Pivot table count by month

Pivot tables have a built-in feature to group dates by year, month, and quarter. In the example shown, a pivot table is used to count colors per month for data that covers a 6-month period. The count displayed represents the number of records per month for each color.

Fields

The source data contains three fields: Date, Sales, and Color. Only two fields are used to create the pivot table: Date and Color.

The Color field has been added as a Row field to group data by color. The Color field has also been added as a Value field, and renamed "Count":

The Date field has been added as a Column field and grouped by month:

Helper column alternative

As an alternative to automatic date grouping, you can add a helper column to the source data, and use a formula to extract the year. Then add the Year field to the pivot table directly.

COUNTIFS alternative

As an alternative to a pivot table, you can use the COUNTIFS function to count by month, as seen in this example.

Steps

1. Create a pivot table
2. Add Color field to Rows area
3. Add Color field Values area, rename to "Count"
4. Add Date field to Columns area, group by Month
5. Change value field settings to show count if needed

Notes

1. Any non-blank field in the data can be used in the Values area to get a count.
2. When a text field is added as a Value field, Excel will display a count automatically.
3. Without a Row field, the count represents all data records.