Non-PivotTable Slicers and Timelines

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 5, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


When Terry adds slicers and timelines to a PivotTable, he finds them incredibly helpful. He wonders if there is a way to add them to other parts of Excel, as well. There are times he doesn't want to go through creating a PivotTable, but would still like to get the benefits of slicers and timelines.

Slicers were introduced in Excel 2010 and timelines in Excel 2013, both for use with PivotTables. (They will also work just fine with PivotCharts.) In Excel 2013 slicers were "expanded" so that they could be used with formatted tables in a worksheet, as well as with PivotTables. Both tools allow you to easily filter data to home in on exactly what you want to find in your data.

I won't go into how to add slicers or timelines to PivotTables, as Terry apparently knows how to do that. To add a slicer to a formatted table in your worksheet, select a cell in the table and make sure the Table Design tab of the ribbon is displayed. (This tab is available only if you select a cell in a formatted table.) There you'll find an Insert Slicer tool that can be used to add what you want.

Timelines can only be used in PivotTables; they are not available elsewhere in Excel. You can attempt a workaround, though, by adding a date column to your formatted table data and then adding a slicer based on that data column.

The nature of both slicers and timelines requires a formal data structure and so it makes sense that they work with formatted tables, PivotTables, and PivotCharts. For free-form data, there would be no way for the slicer or timeline to know what to include, though some people have tried to work around this limitation:

https://www.sageintelligence.com/tips-and-tricks/excel-tips-tricks/2014/03/using-slicers-non-pivot-data/

The approach is interesting, but it seems (to me) much easier to just format your data as table and then use the tools you want.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12837) applies to Microsoft Excel 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Unlinking an Excel Chart Automatically

When Excel charts are linked in a Word document, they update every time the document is opened. Here's how to unlink the ...

Discover More

Extracting Hyperlink Information

In Excel, a hyperlink consists of two parts: the text displayed for the link and the target of the link. You can use a ...

Discover More

Unhiding a Limited Number of Columns

If you have a bunch of hidden columns in your worksheet, you might want to unhide only a portion of those columns. This ...

Discover More

Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Column Formatting Based On a Filter

When working with filtered data, you may want to specially format a column that has a filter applied to it. Here are a ...

Discover More

Limits on Filtering

Filtering your data is a very power capability in Excel. What, however, are the limits on how many rows you can filter? ...

Discover More

Not All Rows are Filtered

When you are working with large amounts of data in a worksheet, filtering that data can make the process much simpler. ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight minus 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.