Overview
A Pivot Table cross-tabulates a Measure across two or more Dimensions. One Dimension becomes the row headers, another becomes the column headers, and the Measure aggregates into the cells at each row/column intersection. Pivot Tables are the standard Lens visualization for summarizing data across two categorical axes — region vs. product, month vs. customer, status vs. team. They differ from the Table Chart’s flat row-and-column display by performing the cross-tabulation pivot itself.
Pivot Tables are authored from Lens → Design → Chart Designer → Visualization → Pivot Table. The Pivot-specific behavior is the orientation selection: which Dimension drives the row axis and which drives the column axis. Otherwise, Properties and Columns customization inherit from Table Chart and Bar Chart.
When to use it
- Cross-tabulation of a Measure against two categorical Dimensions — sales by region by product, traffic by source by month, count by status by team.
- Summary tables in Reports where the analytical narrative is the relationship between two categorical axes.
- Spreadsheet-style cross-summaries familiar to users from Excel pivot tables.
- Cases where Table Chart’s flat row-by-row display doesn’t surface the relationship between two Dimensions clearly.
Pivot-specific behavior — Orientation
The Pivot Table’s distinguishing configuration is the orientation control, which determines which Dimension drives the row axis and which drives the column axis.
| Orientation | Controls which Dimension is on rows and which is on columns. |
Properties tab — inherited
All Properties tab customization inherits from Table Chart and Bar Chart.
| Table Chart Properties | All Properties documented on Table Chart that don’t conflict with cross-tabulation. | Table Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Bar Chart Properties | Properties documented on Bar Chart that are not also on Table Chart, with axis-related properties (X-Axis, Y-Axis, Multi-Axis, Bar Shape, etc.) not applying. | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
Columns tab — inherited
All Columns tab customization inherits from Table Chart and Bar Chart.
| Columns tab | Inherited from Table Chart and Bar Chart. Per-column settings (Header, Display Name, Groups, Content Properties, Drilldown, Data Format & Table Column Settings). The orientation control is also exposed on the Columns tab. | Bar Chart PD → Columns tab; Table Chart PD → Columns tab |
Key behaviors
Cross-tabulation is the defining behavior. Pivot Tables differ from Table Charts by cross-tabulating: one Dimension on rows, another on columns, Measure values aggregated into the intersections. A Table Chart with two Dimensions renders each as a separate column; a Pivot Table folds one Dimension into the column headers. The result is the same data presented as a cross-summary rather than a row list.
Orientation swap is reversible. The orientation control swaps which Dimension is on which axis. The data and Measure aggregation are unchanged, only the visual layout. Designers can experiment with orientations to find the one that best reads on the Dashboard or in the Report.
Two-Dimension minimum for meaningful pivoting. Pivot Tables need at least two Dimensions to cross-tabulate. With a single Dimension, there’s no cross-tab — the Pivot Table renders similarly to a Table Chart. For row-list data, use Table Chart; for cross-tab data, use Pivot Table.