Knowledge Base

Error Message Grouping Data in PivotTable

Article ID: 115471

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2005

Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 5.0c
Microsoft Excel 5.0 for Macintosh
Microsoft Excel 5.0a for Macintosh
Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 95a
Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q115471

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to group items in a PivotTable, you may receive the following error message:

Cannot group that selection.

CAUSE

A PivotTable range containing a blank row is interpreted as an incorrect data type and, therefore, Microsoft Excel does not allow you to group the data.

WORKAROUND

To group the data in the PivotTable, follow these steps:

Remove all blank rows from the PivotTable data range.
Do the following to refresh the PivotTable:
2. Select any item in the PivotTable.
3. On the Data menu, click Refresh Data.

MORE INFORMATION

To group data in a PivotTable, follow these steps:

Select a range of data in the PivotTable.
On the Data menu, point to Group And Outline, and then click Group.

The items are then grouped according to similar items, such as dates or times. However, when a blank row occurs in the PivotTable data range, the data cannot be grouped. A blank row is interpreted as a null value, which cannot be included as part of the grouped data.

Additional query words: 97 database XL97 XL7 XL5 XL

Keywords: kberrmsg kbprb KB115471