Benefits of pivot charts/tables over inserted charts

[Bramble]

I hope this isn't too ill-defined, but I'm just curious what is the benefit of a pivot chart/table over just highlighting the information and inserting a chart?

From what I've got so far, with a pivot table I know I can have a dynamic chart and change the data from the rows to the columns very quickly and have a multitude of sum/count/average formula's for the values, but I can't change the actual values in the table to correspond with the chart. However, if I select the data first then insert a chart, I can change the values and the chart almost becomes a formula, responding to the changed cells dynamically.

I know I'm still new to excel and there is still much to learn, but I keep finding myself trying to use pivot tables, but then just switching over to a chart just because it seems easier and suits my needs.

I haven't looked too much into it, but I have read, briefly, into hiker95's recommendations on learning pivot tables.
http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/general-excel-discussion-other-questions/696449-looking-good-teaching-resource-excel.html#post3442929

 

[btomjack]

Firstly, pivot tables/charts will do that, too, you just have to hit "refresh" on the "options" tab of the "pivot table tools" section. When you change the data, you need to hit refresh for the pivot table/chart to reflect the change.

Secondly, it really depends on the type of data. If you only have one category (e.g. month), a regular chart would probably be the way to go. Pivot tables/charts really come in handy when you have multiple categories (e.g. month, location, & product), because your table of data can end up looking like this:

Month___Location___Product___# sold
JAN_____A_________X_________1
JAN_____A_________Y_________1
JAN_____A_________Z_________1
JAN_____B_________X_________1
JAN_____B_________Y_________1
JAN_____B_________Z_________1
JAN_____C_________X_________1
... ... ... ...

Pivot tables/charts allow you to sort & filter better than regular charts would. Maybe you're only concerned with how well product Y sold at location A in March; pivot tables have filters that would allow you to isolate that data. Or, maybe you want to show all the data for product X first, sorted by location, then by month. All you have to do is re-arrange the fields in your pivot table and you can completely change the way your data is represented.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bramble]

Thanks for the response btomjack, that's a great example of why pivot tables are used and makes it easier to understand.