- Pivot tables are one of the best allies of any project whose data is included in spreadsheets such as Excel or, in this case, Sheets, helping to manage the tables
- From time to time, the Sheets PivotTables refresh that should be automatic may show issues, so it’s best to know what steps to take to overcome them.
Despite the fact that when we think of spreadsheets, the first thing that comes to mind is Microsoft Office, we can’t lose sight of the fact that there are other similar programs or office suites, such as Workspace. Developed by Google, it has solutions similar to all Office ones, with Sheets being one of the most popular. In this article, We teach you how to update pivot tables in Sheets, greatly improving your productivity thanks to the functions of this interesting free alternative to Microsoft Excel.
In fact, one of the features in common between both spreadsheets are the well-known pivot tables. Powerful tool if any, with them we can summarize information, find patterns and organize the elements. They are very common in fact in businesses, which use them to analyze their businesses.
While we don’t usually need to update data in a PivotTable in Google Sheets, since PivotTables tend to update when the source data changes, that doesn’t always happen. Precisely for this reason, in the moment in which it does not happen, you must know how to act to update them.
How to update pivot tables in Google Sheets step by step?
One of the easiest ways to refresh a pivot table in Google Sheets is to refresh the browser. It seems too simple, right? It is, and it makes sense, because Sheets interacts with the web all the time.
- Open your pivot tables in the browser, make any changes and click the Update button
- Once the browser has refreshed the page, the spreadsheet should be up to date
That’s all, and the interesting thing is that it won’t take more than a second if you’re connected to the Internet. Unfortunately, there are plenty of cases in which, for a couple of reasons and reasons, the procedure fails.
Check the data ranges
The first of the reasons why your data may not appear correctly in the table has to do with its range, considering that may be extracting incorrect data, useless for your goals.
For example, if you add your data, with a new row below it, it won’t update as they should, since by definition the data rows that are added after the pivot table is created are not reflected in the updates.
To fix data out of range issue in a pivot table, do this:
- Click on any cell in the pivot table and the PivotTable Editor will appear
- At the top you will see the data range of that pivot table, Edit it by adding the new data
- Once you have added the new data, save the changes in the Table Editor, and refresh the browser
From there, every time you refresh the browser, the changes to those new tables should appear as well.
Check the filters
The second of the reasons that may be causing this problem is if you apply a filter on the elements. By using a filter for a cell or cells, you may be showing or hiding certain results.
To fix the problem of filters altering data in a pivot table, do this:
- Click on any cell in the pivot table and the PivotTable Editor will appear
- Go to the list of filters, and click on the X symbol of those you want to eliminate, always starting with those filters that are considered more complex than others, until ending with the simplest
This should get rid of the error or glitch, allowing you to see the correct values after refreshing the browser. To reapply filters, look for that section and create the ones you want from the Add button.
Conclusions
Now you know how to update the pivot tables in Google Workspace Sheets, and although it shouldn’t be something that keeps you worried, because as we said they should update themselves, it’s better to know how to react to the error. As long as your updated browser does not show the updated pivot tables, the output will be this.
On the other hand, remember that just as you can use the dynamic sheets of Google Sheets, you also have access to the dynamic sheets of Office, either through the paid version, as well as through Microsoft 365. We are talking about the service previously known as Office 365, the Redmond solution for online office automation.
