Build a pivot table from any data with Crade
Pivot tables are powerful but unintuitive. Crade reads your raw data on screen and tells you exactly which fields to drag where, in plain language, for Excel or Sheets.
| Date | Region | Rev |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 12 | EMEA | 14,200 |
| Apr 18 | APAC | 8,700 |
| Apr 24 | AMER | 21,300 |
| May 03 | EMEA | 16,800 |
| May 11 | AMER | 19,500 |
| May 22 | APAC | 11,400 |
| Jun 02 | EMEA | 17,900 |
| Jun 09 | AMER | 24,600 |
| Jun 14 | APAC | 9,800 |
| Month | EMEA | APAC | AMER | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | 14,200 | 8,700 | 21,300 | 44,200 |
| May | 16,800 | 11,400 | 19,500 | 47,700 |
| June | 17,900 | 9,800 | 24,600 | 52,300 |
| Total | 48,900 | 29,900 | 65,400 | 144,200 |
Build me a pivot table that shows revenue by month by region, with totals.
Pivot setup for Numbers: Rows: Date (group by month) Columns: Region Values: Revenue (sum) In Numbers: 1. Click any cell in your data 2. Organize . Pivot Table . New Pivot Table 3. Drag Date to Rows, Region to Columns, Revenue to Values 4. Right-click the date column . Group by . Month Totals appear automatically in the rightmost column and bottom row.
Pivot tables are the highest-leverage spreadsheet feature most people never learn. The reason is the UI: rows, columns, values, filters, and somehow you are supposed to know which goes where. Crade reads your data on screen and tells you exactly what to do for the report you want.
What you put on your screen
- A spreadsheet with your raw data visible
- Headers in the first row (Crade needs to see the column names)
- At least one numeric column to aggregate, and at least one categorical column to break down by
What you say to Crade
Crade reads the columns on your screen and tells you which field goes in Rows, which in Columns, which in Values. For Excel and Sheets, the menu paths are similar but with different button labels.
Step-by-step
Select your data range
Click any cell in your data. For Sheets, the whole connected range is picked up automatically. For Excel, you can select the range explicitly.
Ask Crade what the pivot should look like
Describe in plain English: "Show me revenue grouped by month and region". Crade tells you the exact field assignments.
Open the pivot insert dialog
Sheets: Insert → Pivot Table. Excel: Insert → PivotTable. Crade tells you the exact menu path for your version.
Drag fields per Crade's instructions
"Drag Date to Rows, Region to Columns, Revenue to Values". Follow exactly. The pivot updates as you drag.
Verify totals
Check that the row totals and column totals match your expectation. If the numbers look wrong, paste back to Crade: "Total is too low, what is missing?". Often it is a sum filter or a date format issue.
Adjust grouping
For Date columns, ask Crade: "Group by month instead of day". Spreadsheet UI for this is buried; Crade gives you the exact menu path.
What you get back from Crade
Exact field assignments: which column goes in Rows, which in Columns, which in Values, and which aggregation (sum, average, count). Plus the menu path to open the pivot dialog for your specific tool and version.
Tips
- Clean dates before pivoting. If your Date column has mixed formats, the pivot groups them weirdly. Ask Crade: "Are my dates consistent?" before pivoting.
- For percentages, ask Crade to walk you through "Show Values As → Percent of Total". The Sheets/Excel UI for this is non-obvious.
- Pivot charts: "Make me a pivot chart from this pivot table". Crade tells you how.
- Filtering: "Add a slicer for Region" lets you toggle subsets without rebuilding.
- If a pivot looks wrong, take a screenshot and ask Crade: "Why does this pivot have $0 in some cells?". Usually a sum filter, blank rows, or formula error.
Common pivots
- Revenue by month by region (time-series breakdown)
- Headcount by department by role (org reporting)
- Customer count by acquisition channel (marketing)
- Defect count by severity by sprint (engineering quality)
- Conversion rate by campaign by week (growth)
The whole loop in one sentence
Raw data on screen, one plain question, exact field assignments back. Pivot tables go from "I do not know how to do this" to "three clicks and done".
VLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, pivot tables, conditional formatting. Crade reads your spreadsheet on screen and gives you the exact formula, no Stack Overflow detour.
Crade reads your two tables on screen and gives you the exact lookup formula that fits your specific column layout. No more cargo-culting from old Stack Overflow answers.