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Formulas in a new table that refer to cells in a pivot table — can they be relative references?

I've been doing a lot of experimentation with Numbers' pivot tables and there's one thing (so far) I have not been able to figure out that I'm hoping someone can answer.


I often want to create a separate table with formulas based on the pivot table values. However, I usually do not want the cells in the new table to be absolute references to pivot table cells, so I can easily copy a formula in the new table from one cell to another. This can easily be done in Google sheets.


Numbers makes formulas absolute references by default, when pointing to cells in a pivot table. When I manually remove the $ in the cell formula to change the cell reference to relative from absolute, Numbers refuses to accept the edit and continues to leave it as an absolute reference.


As an example, here's the text of a formula I create in the new table. I can't remove the $. Therefore I can't copy this formula to other cells in the new table since everything will still point to the original pivot table cells.


$C$3÷$B$3, where C and B are pivot table cells.


Is there a solution? If not, creating formulas in a separate table, is very laborious.




Posted on Dec 20, 2022 3:33 PM

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8 replies

Dec 28, 2022 12:50 PM in response to SGIII

Thx for following up, SG! I appreciate it.


Here's a simple example. I want to create a column called "Conversion" ie Sales/Leads. I create a pivot table, by week (on the left below).


Right now, I need to copy/paste the data from the Pivot table on the left into columns in the table on the right, where I can calculate conversion rates.


It would be nice if I could just create a table with the conversion rate column.


This becomes even more useful when I have a more complex pivot table, with additional columns showing the source of the leads.


When I create a formula in the Conversion table (on the right), referencing cells in the Pivot table on the left, the formula automatically shows an absolute reference (ie has $ signs). I can appear to edit the dollar signs to remove them, but when saving the cell, the $ signs are still there. I can do that in Google sheets, but not in Numbers.


That's why I need to copy/paste the raw numbers again into the Conversion table

Dec 21, 2022 7:29 AM in response to hab1

As you probably have discovered, Pivot Tables are great tools for conducting "dynamic" analysis of your data, quickly extracting different summaries in different formats. In many situations they are much faster and easier than entering and debugging formulas. But I would be cautious about basing formulas on Pivot Tables. They could break whenever you make a change in the Pivot Table.


SG



Dec 29, 2022 8:12 AM in response to SGIII

The original table has a ton of rows, one for each lead, which includes a date the lead was acquired and whether or not it ultimately became a sale. The pivot table rolls that up by week. I can't see how I can add some kind of conversion rate to an individual row. Perhaps I can create a column that is either 100% or zero, then use that column's average to determine the conversion rate? Seems pretty clunky, but I can try that out. This could be done so easily if I could create a table with relative references ☹️

Formulas in a new table that refer to cells in a pivot table — can they be relative references?

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