10 Excel Pivot Table Keyboard Shortcuts

Pivot tables are used by hundreds of thousands of people every day to analyze and summarize large amounts of data.

Pivot Tables are fairly easy to use, and most Excel users get the hang of it after using it a couple of times.

So if you’re a fan of Pivot Tables and use them quite often, it would be helpful to learn some common Pivot Table keyboard shortcuts that you can use to speed up your work.

In this article, I will give you some common Pivot Table shortcuts that you can learn to become even more efficient.

Excel Pivot Table Shortcuts

While I will cover each Pivot Table shortcut in detail later, in case you want a quick rundown, below is the table to show you a list of shortcuts.

Now let’s deep dive into each of these shortcuts, where I’ll show you how to use them with Pivot Tables.

Shortcut to Create a Pivot Table From Data

Below is the shortcut to insert a new Pivot table in a new worksheet

ALT + N + V + T + Enter

To use the keyboard shortcut:

1. Select any cell in the dataset from which you want to create the Pivot Table
2. Use the shortcut ALT + N + V + T + Enter (press these keys one after the other)

When you use ALT + N + V + T, it will open the ‘PivotTable from table or range’ dialog box as shown below:

And then, when you hit Enter key, it inserts a new Pivot table in a new worksheet.

Shortcut to Opening the Old Pivot Table Wizard

You can use the keyboard shortcut ALT + D + P to open the old Pivot Table Wizard (shown below).

While most people use the regular dialog box to insert the Pivot Table, many experienced/advanced Excel users still prefer the old Pivot Table Wizard.

Also read: Preparing Source Data For Pivot Table

Shortcut to Select the Entire Pivot Table

If you want to select the entire pivot table, you can use the below shortcut:

Control + A

You first need to select any cell in the Pivot Table and then use the above shortcut

Note that this shortcut would only select the Pivot Table and not the Report Filters (in case you have report filters activated in your Pivot Table)

Shortcut to Toggle Checkboxes in Pivot Table Fields List

There are checkboxes in multiple places when working with Pivot Tables (such as in the Pivot Table Field list pane or in the filter options when you click on the filter icons in the columns)

You can use the spacebar to check or uncheck these checkboxes with your keyboard (it works as a toggle)

Spacebar

Shortcut to Group/Ungroup Selected Pivot Table Items

Below is the keyboard shortcut to group two or more items in a pivot table

ALT  + SHIFt + Right Arrow Key

And if you want to ungroup the already grouped items, you can use the below keyboard shortcut

ALT  + SHIFt + Left Arrow Key

To use this shortcut:

1. Select the items that you want to group

2. Hold the ALT and the SHIFT key and then press the right arrow key

And if you want to ungroup items, select the cells that have the group, hold the ALT and the SHIFT key and then press the Left arrow key.

Also read: How to Group Dates in Pivot Tables in Excel (by Years, Months, Weeks)

Shortcut to Insert a Pivot Chart

Below is the shortcut you can use to insert the Pivot Chart in the existing worksheet where you already have the pivot table

ALT + F1

And in case you want to insert a new chart sheet that contains the Pivot Chart, you can use the below keyboard shortcut.

F11

To use these shortcuts, you first need to select any cell in the Pivot Table and then press the keyboard shortcut keys.

Shortcut to Hide Item from the Pivot Table

If you do not want to show some items in your pivot table, you can hide them using the below shortcut:

CONTROL –

To use this shortcut, first select the items that you want to hide, then hold the Control key and then press the Minus key.

Below is the dataset where I selected the ‘Multiline’ option in the Pivot Table and used the shortcut Control –

And this is what I got (where the item has been hidden).

When you use the above shortcut, Excel does not hide the record or the row. It actually filters your data set where the items that you selected before using the shortcut would be filtered out, and the remaining would be shown.

If you want to get the hidden items back, click on the filter icon that appears in the Pivot Table Field list, and check all the options.

Shortcut to Create a Calculated Item/Field

Below is the shortcut to open the dialog box to insert a new calculated field or calculated item in a Pivot Table in Excel

Ctrl + Shift + =

To insert a Calculated Field, select any of the column headers that contain the values (such as Sum of Sales or Sum of Profit), and then use the above shortcut (hold the control and the shift key and then press the equal to key)

And if you want to insert a calculated item, select the row label and then use the same shortcut.

The above shortcuts would open the calculated field or calculated item dialog box.

Also read: How to Add and Use an Excel Pivot Table Calculated Field

Shortcut to View/Hide Pivot Table Field List

Pivot Table Field list is a pane that opens on the right where you see all the fields that you can drag and make the Rows/Columns, Values, or Filters (as shown below).

Sometimes, the Pivot Table Fields pane disappears, and Excel users have no idea how to get it back.

Below is the shortcut you can use to get the pivot table field list to reappear:

ALT + J + T + L

To use the shortcut, select any cell in the Pivot Table and then press these keys one after the other (in succession)

This shortcut works as a toggle, so if you do not see your PivotTable Fields pane and you use the above shortcut, it is going to make it reappear, otherwise, it is going to hide it.

In this article, I covered the most important Pivot Table shortcuts that you can learn to be more efficient when working with it.

I hope you found this article useful!

Other Excel articles you may also like:

• 200+ Excel Keyboard Shortcuts – 10x Your Productivity
• 20 Excel Keyboard Shortcuts that will Impress Your Boss
• Using Slicers in Excel Pivot Table
• How to Refresh Pivot Table in Excel
• Delete a Pivot Table in Excel
• How to Group Numbers in Pivot Table in Excel