Add Running Total in a Pivot Table

Running total in a pivot table is a cumulative total which includes the past total as well. For example, if we have month-wise data from Jan to Dec, a running total will show you the YTD total every month. We can use a running total to measure complete growth against the target.

Pivot Tables are one of the INTERMEDIATE EXCEL SKILLS.

Running Total in Pivot Table

Adding a running/cumulative total requires simply a few clicks and here are the steps to do it.

1. Once you create a pivot table, select any of the cells from data column.
   
2. Right click on it and click “Value Field Setting”.
   
3. Now, you have “Value Field Setting” window.
4. Go to “Show Values As” tab.
5. From “Show Values As” drop-down list, select “Running Total In”.
   
6. Click Okay.

Now we have a running total in the pivot table with a cumulative total in every month.

Note: While adding the running total make sure that the pivot table is sorted in the right way. If we want to add it from Jan to Dec then the values must have been sorted from Jan to Dec.

Start Running Total from Zero

Someone asked how can we start the total from zero. Well, for this we just need to make a small amendment to our source data.

1. First of all, in the source data we need to enter a dummy entry with zero value.
   
2. Here our data is starting from Jan’15, and that is why I have used Dec’15 for the dummy entry.
3. Now, go to the pivot table and refresh it. And once we do that it give a running total starting from zero.
   

Percentage Running Total

We can also use the percentage of the running total instead of values.

• First of all, right click on total column and open “Value Field Setting”.
• After that, go to “Show Values As” tab and select select “% Running Total In” from the drop down.
  
• Click OK.
  

Running Total with Grouped Dates

When we add a running total where we have grouped dates there could be a problem, let me show you. In the below pivot table, we have grouped dates and created two-row labels from them “Quarters” and “Months”.

And, we have also applied the running total in the data field. Now if you look, after a change in the quarter, the running total is starting over again. But we can fix it using a helper column and here are the steps.

1. First of all, go to your source data and enter a new column after the date column.
2. After that, name that column “Q-M” and enter the below formula:

   ="Qtr"&ROUNDUP(MONTH(A2)/3,0)&"-"&TEXT(A2,"MM")

   
3. Now, refresh your pivot table and remove both the “Quarters” and “Months” column fields and add column “Q-M”.
   

Running Total in a Pivot Chart

With a running total, we can also create a pivot chart to show cumulative values in a graphical way.

In the above example, we have a pivot chart along with the pivot table to show the trend of values increasing month by month.

Sample File

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