A Quick Guide to Copying Pivot Table Data Into Excel

Pasting pivot table data into Excel takes just a few seconds

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Pivot tables are a powerful feature in Excel. They put flexibility and analytical power in your hands. Pivot tables extract information from large data tables without using formulas. When you find data you want to include in a pivot table, such as data included in a pivot table tutorial, copy the sample data into an Excel worksheet.

Instructions in this article apply to Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010; and Excel for Microsoft 365.

Data for Excel Pivot Table Tutorial

Here's an example of data you'll find in a pivot table tutorial:

Cookie Sales by Region
SalesRep Region # Orders Total Sales
Bill West 217 $41,107
Frank West 268 $72,707
Harry North 224 $41,676
Janet North 286 $87,858
Joe South 226 $45,606
Martha East 228 $49,017
Mary West 234 $57,967
Ralph East 267 $70,702
Sam East 279 $77,738
Tom South 261 $69,496

How to Copy the Tutorial Text

Follow these steps to copy the sample data into your own Excel file. These steps are relevant for any data you want to copy into Excel, not just the specific data shown in the table above.

  1. Highlight the data in the table above. Select from the title Cookie Sales by Region to the number $69,496 at the bottom of the table.

  2. Right-click (or tap-and-hold) any part of the highlighted text and choose Copy from the browser's context menu.

    Another way to copy the data from the table is to use the Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac) keyboard shortcut.

  3. Select cell A1 in a blank Excel worksheet to make it the active cell.

  4. Go to the Home tab.

  5. In the Clipboard group, select the Paste dropdown arrow.

    Screenshot of Paste drop-down in Excel
  6. Choose Paste Special.

  7. In the Paste Special dialog box, select Text.

    Screenshot of Paste Special dialog box
  8. Select OK to paste the data into Excel.

  9. Each piece of data is pasted into a separate cell in the worksheet. If cell A1 was the active cell when the data was pasted into the worksheet, the data appears in the range A1 to D12.

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