Use a screen reader to create a PivotTable or PivotChart in Excel
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This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Windows tools or features and Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Accessibility help & learning content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.

Use Excel with your keyboard and a screen reader to create PivotTables or PivotCharts. We have tested it with Narrator, NVDA, and JAWS, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Use a PivotTable to calculate, summarize, and analyze data. You can quickly create comparisons, patterns, and trends for your data.

With a PivotChart, you can present your data visually, and quickly get the big picture of what's going on.

Notes: 

In this topic

Create a PivotTable

  1. In your worksheet, select the cells you want to convert into a PivotTable. Make sure your data doesn't have any empty rows or columns. The data cannot contain more than one heading row.

  2. Press Alt+N, V, and then T. The Create PivotTable dialog box opens.

  3. The focus is on the Table/Range: box showing the selected cell range, and you hear the selected cell range. Review the selection and use your keyboard to modify the range if needed.

      Create PivotTable dialog box in Excel for Windows showing the selected cell range and the default options.

  4. When you're ready, press the Tab key until you reach the OK button, and press Enter. A new worksheet for the PivotTable opens. The PivotTable Fields pane opens to the right of the screen. 

  5. To move the focus to the PivotTable Fields pane, press F6 until you hear: "PivotTable fields, type words to search for."

  6. You can now select the fields you want to use in your PivotTable. To browse the fields list, use the Down or Up arrow key. To select a field for your PivotTable, press Spacebar. The fields and their data are added to the PivotTable on the worksheet grid.

    The fields you select are added to their default areas at the bottom of the PivotTable Fields pane: non-numeric fields are added to Rows, date and time hierarchies are added to Columns, and numeric fields are added to Values.

  7. You can now move a field to another area or to another position within its current area if needed. In the PivotTable Fields pane, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the area that contains the field you want to move. Press the Right arrow key until you hear the field you want. Then press the Up arrow key until you hear the option you want, for example, "Move to column labels," and press Enter. The PivotTable on the worksheet grid is updated accordingly.

    PivotTable Fields pane open in Excel for Windows showing selected table fields.  

Refresh a PivotTable

If you add new data to the data source of your PivotTable, all PivotTables that were built on that data source need to be refreshed. 

  1. In your worksheet, select a cell in the PivotTable you want to refresh.

  2. Press Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key to open the context menu.

  3. To refresh the data in the PivotTable, press R.

Create a PivotChart

  1. In your worksheet, select the cells you want to convert into a PivotChart. Make sure your data doesn't have any empty rows or columns. The data cannot contain more than one heading row.

  2. Press Alt+N, S, Z, and then C. The Create PivotChart dialog box opens.

  3. The focus is on the Table/Range: box showing the selected cell range, and you hear the selected cell range. Review the selection and use your keyboard to modify the range if needed.

    Insert PivotChart dialog box in Excel for Windows showing the selected cell range and the default options.

  4. When you're ready, press the Tab key until you hear "OK, button," and press Enter. A new worksheet for the PivotChart opens. The PivotChart Fields pane opens to the right of the screen.

  5. Press F6 until you hear: "PivotChart fields, type words to search for."

  6. You can now select the fields you want to use in your PivotChart. To browse the fields list, use the Down or Up arrow key. To select a field for your PivotChart, press Spacebar. The fields and their data are added to the PivotChart on the worksheet grid.

  7. You can now move a field to another area or to another position within its current area if needed. In the PivotChart Fields pane, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the area that contains the field you want to move. Press the Right arrow key until you hear the field you want. Then press the Up arrow key until you hear the option you want, for example, "Move to legend labels," and press Enter. The PivotChart on the worksheet grid is updated accordingly.

    PivotChart Fields pane in Excel for Windows showing selected table fields.  

Create a PivotChart from a PivotTable 

  1. Select a cell in the PivotTable you want to convert into a PivotChart.

  2. Press Alt+J, T, and then C. The Insert Chart dialog box opens.

  3. To move the focus to the list of available chart types, press the Tab key once. You hear the currently selected chart type. To browse the list of chart types, use the Up or Down arrow key.

  4. When you've found the chart type you want to insert, press the Tab key once to move the focus to the list of available chart subtypes. To browse the list of subtypes, use the Right or Left arrow key.

  5. When you've found the chart subtype you want, press Enter to insert the PivotChart to the same worksheet as the PivotTable.

See also

Use a screen reader to add, remove, or arrange fields in a PivotTable in Excel

Use a screen reader to filter data in a PivotTable in Excel

Use a screen reader to group or ungroup data in a PivotTable in Excel

Keyboard shortcuts in Excel

Basic tasks using a screen reader with Excel

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Excel

What's new in Microsoft 365

Technical support for customers with disabilities

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