Hi all,

I have the following problems in Excel 2010:

First, I have a Pivot table that gets data from an external data source (MS Access database), so the number of columns is fixed and the number of rows is variable. This table now needs an additional column for remarks or status. I have already added that column in Excel and it automatically gets attached to the existing Pivot table.

Now the problem is that if I enter some remark to any of the data/rows, it gets removed as soon as the Pivot table is refreshed and gets new data from the database, even if the data is exactly the same.

So I need a function that saves those remarks to the according data/row and re-enters them when the data is refreshed.

I have two ideas for this:

1. The user adds remarks in the remark column. When he clicks on the refresh (all) button all rows with a remark get copied to a new (temporary?) remark worksheet. When the refresh is over the function checks the rows from the remark worksheet for existence in the new refreshed Pivot table and puts the remark text in the corresponding cells.
2. Nearly the same as above but instead of using the additional remark worksheet the data is stored to an array before the refresh and compared to another array from the new data. If there is a match the remark text is added to that cell/row.

Now the second problem is quite similar as I need to add remarks to a Pivot chart. The difference here is that the number of rows is variable as is the number of columns. The last column from the pivot chart is always a sum total and I've added a column after it for remarks. Contrary to the Pivot table I don't need all columns for a data match but just the first (customer number). If these are the same after the refresh as they were before then the remark should be added to the remark column. It would be perfect if I also had a function that adds the remark column dynamically after the total sum column because at the moment Excel shows me an error/message when after a refresh the number of columns exceeds the number there was before the refresh and the remark column gets overwritten.

I hope I was able to make my problem clear and that you guys can help me with this! :-)

P.S.: the built-in Excel comments are not an option as the remarks have to be always visible in this remark column.

Thank you,
Popopinsel