Easy Filtering Specifications for a PivotTable

David has many PivotTables that are filtered by year. In his data there is a separate field for year (values 2008, 2009, 2010, etc., derived via the Year function). He excludes older years in most cases and reports on more recent years. When a new year arrives, it is a tedious process for David to edit every PivotTable and select the most recent year. He wonders if there is a way to specify the selection values for a PivotTable filter so he doesn't need to go through the tedious editing.

Perhaps the easiest way to do this would be to add a single column to the source data for your PivotTable. The column could contain a simple formula that designates whether the row is within the desired range for inclusion in the PivotTable. For instance, if column A contains the transaction date for the row, then you could include the following in the added column:

=YEAR(A2)>YEAR(NOW())-3

The result of the formula is either True or False, depending on whether the transaction is within the previous three years or not. Thus, if this formula is evaluated in 2013, then any transactions within 2011, 2012, and 2013 would return True; all others would be False. Then, within your PivotTable definition you could filter based on the contents of this particular column, thereby ensuring that only those True rows are included in the PivotTable.

If you prefer a macro-based solution, you could easily develop one that examined each of the PivotTables and changed the PivotField named "Year" so that it was equal to a desired year. The following shows how easy it is to make such a change:

Sub ChangePivotYear()
    Dim sht As Worksheet
    Dim pvt As PivotTable
    Dim iYear as Integer

    iYear = 2012     ' Change to desired year
    For Each sht In Worksheets
        For Each pvt In sht.PivotTables
            pvt.PivotFields("Year").ClearAllFilters
            pvt.PivotFields("Year").CurrentPage = iYear
       Next pvt
    Next sht
End Sub

The macro sets the field to 2012; if you want to use a different year, just change what is assigned to the Year variable. Note, as well, that the macro affects all the PivotTables in the entire workbook.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12571) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013.