First Pivot Table

[Kathleen Bell]

I have been lurking here for about a month. There were some mentions made
of pivot tables, so I went to the Microsoft website and read some of the
training articles on them.

I am starting a new job and they want someone who understands pivot tables
and lookup. I have used lookup a lot, but have only seen pivot tables.
When I found out about this new job I went back to the training article. I
put some data on a spreadsheet and then turned it into a pivot table and
played with it. I can see what a powerful tool this is. I am an accountant
and it has the potential of being extremely helpful in doing analysis.

I really appreciate this newsgroup. Some of the threads are beyond me and
some don't apply, but I at least get a feel of what can be done. When I
need it I will know what to look for.

I do have one question regarding Visual Basic. My son is a software
engineer and I mentioned that it was used in excel tables. He said there
are several things called Visual Basic. He thought it might be VB Script.
Is that what it is?

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi Kathleen

Good luck with the new job!!
Pivot Tables are one of Excel's real gems in my opinion, and I make
extensive use of them in my own work and in any developments I undertake for
clients.
If you have not found it yet, do check out Debra Dalgleish's site which has
a lot of useful information on PT's (as well as lots of other thngs)
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html
and scroll to Pivot Tables.

As far as the VB question, Excel and other MS Office programs use a version
of Visual Basic called Visual Basic for Applications or VBA for short.
What the differences are between pure Visual Basic and VBA is do not know as
I have only ever used VBA.

Regards

Roger Govier