Sum vs. Count in Pivot Tables

Why, in pivot tables, do I sometimes get "sum" and other times
"count" when putting fields in the data section? I import data
from CSV files, and in one file I am trying to get the sum of
invoices (and I get count) while in another I am trying to get the
sum of purchase orders (and I get sum).

Thanks for any insights.

I believe the field defaults to SUM if all referenced cells in that field
contain numbers. It uses COUNT if any of the cells contain blanks or text.

Does that help?

***********
Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro


"les8" wrote:

> Why, in pivot tables, do I sometimes get "sum" and other times
> "count" when putting fields in the data section? I import data
> from CSV files, and in one file I am trying to get the sum of
> invoices (and I get count) while in another I am trying to get the
> sum of purchase orders (and I get sum).
>
> Thanks for any insights.
>
>

Ron,
thanks! One less of life's mysteries to keep me up at night.


"Ron Coderre" wrote:

> I believe the field defaults to SUM if all referenced cells in that field
> contain numbers. It uses COUNT if any of the cells contain blanks or text.
>
> Does that help?
>
> ***********
> Regards,
> Ron
>
> XL2002, WinXP-Pro
>
>
> "les8" wrote:
>
> > Why, in pivot tables, do I sometimes get "sum" and other times
> > "count" when putting fields in the data section? I import data
> > from CSV files, and in one file I am trying to get the sum of
> > invoices (and I get count) while in another I am trying to get the
> > sum of purchase orders (and I get sum).
> >
> > Thanks for any insights.
> >
> >