This month’s Technical Tip is from Jim Fergerson, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, Carleton College (jfergers@carleton.edu). Thank you Jim for this quick fix to an annoying issue!

The Field Buttons in a PivotChart are great for exploring data, but they can be ugly or confusing when printed. You can turn them off (when the time is ripe for printing).

Method 1:

• Select a PivotChart, and a PivotChart Tools menu will appear on the Excel menu bar
• Go to PivotChart Tools Analyze tab
• Select drop down menu for “Field Buttons”
• Show/Hide the desired “Field Button” options
• “Hide All” if you want no buttons to show (toggle on/off with check marks)

Use this method when you are working within an Excel spreadsheet, for example, when printing a related table and a chart on the same page. Note that the field buttons will carry over by default if you copy/paste the PivotChart elsewhere on the same spreadsheet (or on a different tab). However, you can make a copy of the PivotChart, and use the method above turn off the field buttons on one. Put the copy of the PivotChart with buttons outside of your presentation print area and continue to work with them for analysis. Changes to analysis version (with buttons) will automatically be reflected in the presentation version (without buttons).

Method 2: Beyond Excel: If you just copy and paste a PivotChart with buttons into a Word or PowerPoint document, the buttons won’t be visible.