Why aren't dates always available to group in pivot tables?

I download data that gives me sales number by individual day. I build a
pivot table to get total sales by day and then group the process day by month
or quarter. Sometimes this works perfectly, while other times I get the
message 'Cannot group that selection'. Has this happened to anyone else? Is
there a limit to the number of rows or columns that can be grouped?

You'll see that error message if the date field contains a blank cell,
or text entry. There's a bit more information, and some workarounds, here:

http://www.contextures.com/xlPivot07.html#Problems

JLM wrote:
> I download data that gives me sales number by individual day. I build a
> pivot table to get total sales by day and then group the process day by month
> or quarter. Sometimes this works perfectly, while other times I get the
> message 'Cannot group that selection'. Has this happened to anyone else? Is
> there a limit to the number of rows or columns that can be grouped?


--
Debra Dalgleish
Excel FAQ, Tips & Book List
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html

I played around with the grouping for a while and found that if I
deleted a couple of date entries (to cause the error) I was unable to
regroup the date field after restoring the deleted dates.


--
cs02000

You cannot have any blanks, text, or non date entries in a date field if you
want to be able to group the dates.

--
Regards
Ken....................... Microsoft MVP - Excel
Sys Spec - Win XP Pro / XL 97/00/02/03

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It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission :-)
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"cs02000" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> I played around with the grouping for a while and found that if I
> deleted a couple of date entries (to cause the error) I was unable to
> regroup the date field after restoring the deleted dates.
>
>
> --
> cs02000

After restoring the dates in the source data, remove the date field from
the pivot table
Refresh the pivot table
Add the date field to the pivot table, and you should be able to group
the dates.

cs02000 wrote:
> I played around with the grouping for a while and found that if I
> deleted a couple of date entries (to cause the error) I was unable to
> regroup the date field after restoring the deleted dates.
>
>


--
Debra Dalgleish
Excel FAQ, Tips & Book List
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html