Help CenterDemos / Spreadsheet Operations

Creating a Pivot Table with SheetXAI

Overview

Overview

Pivot tables are one of the fastest ways to summarize messy spreadsheet data (counts, totals, averages, and breakdowns) without writing formulas.

This demo shows a repeatable workflow you can use any time you need a pivot table.

What a pivot table does (quick mental model)

Think of a pivot table as:

RawRows (many rows)  ->  GroupBy + Aggregate  ->  SummaryTable (small)

Examples:

  • Sum revenue by Month
  • Count orders by Status
  • Average deal size by Sales Rep

Before you start (make your data pivot-friendly)

  • Headers: make sure your table has one header row (no merged headers).
  • No blank header names: every column needs a name.
  • One row = one record: avoid subtotal rows inside your raw data.
  • Consistent types: dates are dates, numbers are numbers (not mixed text).

Step-by-step: create a pivot table with SheetXAI

1) Select your dataset (or tell SheetXAI where it is)

You can either:

  • click inside your dataset/table, or
  • select the range you want summarized (recommended if the sheet has multiple tables).

2) Tell SheetXAI what summary you want

Good requests include:

  • what to group by (rows)
  • what to measure (values)
  • optional:filters and columns (for a matrix-style pivot)

Examples (edit to your situation):

  • “Create a pivot table that sums Total Revenue by Month.”
  • “Create a pivot table that counts rows by Status.”
  • “Create a pivot table that shows average Order Value by Country, filtered to 2026.”

3) Confirm the structure when prompted

SheetXAI may ask you to confirm:

  • the exact column names
  • where to place the pivot table (new sheet vs current sheet)
  • the aggregation type (sum/count/avg)

Confirm and let it run.

Common issues (and how to fix them)

Problem: SheetXAI grouped wrong because the column has inconsistent values

  • Clean the source column (trim spaces, normalize categories).
  • Make sure dates are real dates (not text).

Problem: Pivot counts look wrong

  • Ensure you’re counting a column that’s always populated.
  • Remove blank rows inside the dataset.

Problem: Pivot doesn’t include new rows you added later

  • Convert your data range to a proper table (when available) or ask SheetXAI to rebuild the pivot based on the updated range.

Pro tips

  • Name your columns like a database: created_at, status, revenue, country.
  • Ask for two pivots: one for totals, one for trends over time.
  • Use pivots before charts: pivots make charts cleaner and more accurate.

Last updated on 2026-01-25