Enjoy greater flexibility in filtering dates with Timelines in Microsoft® Excel® 2013

To make it easier for you to drill down on data, Microsoft has provided a more flexible way of filtering PivotTables by dates in Microsoft® Excel® 2013 with the addition of Timelines. Timelines are a visual filter for dates, which make it easy for you to see what date range has been filtered, plus they add a nice aesthetic to your worksheet. Dates can be analyzed by years, quarters, months and days. Unfortunately Timelines can only filter PivotTables, they don’t work on standard tables.

In our example we’ve already created the PivotTable. If you would like to learn how to create a PivotTable or learn about other PivotTable topics, download our free 15 Excel PivotTables and PivotCharts Tips & Tricks eBook.                       

Note: Download the sample workbook to practice this exercise.

Applies To: Microsoft Excel 2013

1. Open the sample workbook

2. To insert a timeline:
a. Click on the PivotTable.
b. Select the Analyze tab and then select Insert Timeline in the Filter section.

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c. Then check the Date box and select OK.

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d. The timeline will be inserted.

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3. To filter the PivotTable by months, select a month from the timeline.

4. To filter by quarters; select Quarters in the top right hand corner.

5. Then select the quarter you would like to filter by.

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As you can see, the PivotTable in our example has been filtered by Quarter 1.

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The timeline can also be filtered by years and days giving you the ability to analyze data interactively.