Show The Percent Of With Excel Pivot Tables

Excel Pivot Tables have a lot of useful calculations under the SHOW VALUES AS option, and one that can help you a lot is the Add Percentage to Pivot Table. In this article, you will learn how to show the percentage of with Excel Pivot Table.

Key Takeaways

• Use Show Values As to display percentages in a Pivot Table.
• You can compare values with the previous item or a specific item.
• Add the same value field twice to show both values and percentages.
• Format the results as a percentage for easier reading.
• Percentage calculations update when you refresh the Pivot Table.

 

How to Show the Percentage of in Pivot Table

STEP 1: Go to Insert > Pivot Table > New Worksheet or Existing Worksheet

STEP 2:

• In the ROWS section, put in the Sales Person field
• In the COLUMNS section, put in the Financial Year field
• In the VALUES area, put in the Sales field twice

Here is how the Pivot Table Percentage looks:

STEP 3: Click the second Sales field’s drop down and choose Value Field Settings

STEP 4: Select the Show Values As tab and from the drop-down choose % of.  

• For the Base Field pick Financial Year.
• For the Base Item pick (previous).

This means we want to get the % of values based on the previous Financial Year.

Also, change the Custom Name into Percent of Previous Year to make it more presentable. Click OK.

STEP 5: Notice that the Percent of Previous Year data is in a decimal format that is hard to read:

To format the Percent of Previous Year column, click the second Sales field’s (Percent of Previous Year) drop down and choose Value Field Settings. 

The goal here is for us to transform numbers from a decimal format (i.e. 0.23), into a percentage format that is more readable (i.e. 23%).

STEP 6: Click the Number Format button.

STEP 7: Inside the Format Cells dialog box, make your formatting changes and press OK twice.  

In this example, we used the Percentage category to make our Percent of Previous Year numbers more readable.

Following these steps, you can add a percentage to Pivot Table, showing the Percent of Previous Year for the sales data of years 2012, 2013, and 2014.

All of the sales numbers are now represented as a Percentage of the Previous Year (Year 2013 is represented as a Percentage of Year 2012, and Year 2014 is represented as a Percentage of Year 2013):

 

How to % of Salesperson’s Sales

STEP 1: Click on any cell in the data table.

STEP 2: Go to Insert > Pivot Table.

STEP 3: In the Create PivotTable dialog box, select the table range and New Worksheet and then click OK.

STEP 4: In the PivotTable fields dialog box, drag and drop Sales person in Rows area, Year in Columns area, and sales amount in values area.

A Pivot Table will be displayed on your worksheet!

STEP 5: Right Click on any value in the Pivot Table and select Value Field Setting.

STEP 6: In the Value Field Setting dialog box, Under Show Values As Tab select % Of > SALES PERSON > Homer Simpson.

This will add a percentage to the Pivot Table!

Excel will display 100% for all values for Homer, and it will be compared to itself. For other salespersons, Excel will show the sales amount as a percentage of Homer’s sales for that particular year.

 

FAQs

How to show data as a percentage of the total in an Excel Pivot Table?

To show data as a percentage of the total,

• Right-click the value field in the Pivot Table
• Select Show Values As
• Choose % of Total

Can I show percentages for rows or columns instead of the grand total?

Yes, you can display percentages relative to rows or columns.

• Right-click on the field in the Pivot Table
• Select Show Values As
• Choose either % of Row Total or % of Column Total to show percentages based on those totals.

Will showing percentages update automatically when the data changes?

Yes, when you change the underlying data in the Pivot Table, the percentage values will update automatically, ensuring that you are always working with the most current calculations.

Can I calculate the percentage of a specific item instead of the grand total?

Yes, you can calculate the percentage for specific items within the Pivot Table by selecting the item, right-clicking, and choosing Show Values As to set it as a percentage of the desired field (e.g., row total or column total).

How to show the percent of grand total in Excel Pivot Tables?

To show the percent of grand total, right-click the value in the Pivot Table, go to Show Values As, and select % of Grand Total. This will display each value as a percentage of the entire dataset, helping to identify its proportion relative to the total.