If your voluminous VLOOKUP()s and rickety reports are making you think it’s time to retire Excel for good and pick up an expensive analytics tool, not so fast. Power Pivot can help you build quick, stable reports and analyses right from Excel.
Or perhaps you have heard of something called DAX as another product for helping with business intelligence and reporting in Excel. Good news, DAX is a part of Power Pivot and will also be available by completing these steps.
Not only is Power Pivot free, it’s already loaded with your copy of Excel! You just have to load it.
Checking version compatibility
If the following steps do not work for you, it’s probably because you do not have a compatible version of Excel. To confirm, check the documentation.
Loading the add-in
Again, Power Pivot is already installed — you just have to click some buttons to see it. That button-clicking sequence goes like this: under the File tab of the ribbon, go to Options, then Add-Ins. Then click COM Add-Ins from under the Manage box and Go.
Didn’t get all of that? Follow along with the below GIF:
Once you’re add the COM Add-ins menu, select Power Pivot, then OK, and you’re ready to go.
Confirming the add-in is available
Like any good analyst, you want to make sure this job went to plan, right? Check the home ribbon and you should now see a Power Pivot tab:
Congratulations on loading Power Pivot for Excel! You’ll be creating efficient models, building elegant DAX measures and more in no time.
If you’d like to learn more about Power Pivot, be sure to check out my blog archive. Got another question about what Power Pivot can do and how to set it up? Feel free to leave a comment below.
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