Access to commands   In Excel, you access commands and features from the PivotTable toolbar instead of the toolbar in the PivotTable list. Many commands have different names in Excel. To find the Excel command you want, ask the Office Assistant.

Data fields   Excel PivotTable reports have data fields (data field: A field from a source list, table, or database that contains data that is summarized in a PivotTable report or PivotChart report. A data field usually contains numeric data, such as statistics or sales amounts.) instead of total fields.

Page fields   In PivotTable reports, filter fields are called page fields (page field: A field that's assigned to a page orientation in a PivotTable or PivotChart report. You can either display a summary of all items in a page field, or display one item at a time, which filters out the data for all other items.).

Layouts   A PivotTable list on a Web page can simultaneously display summarized data and underlying detail records. Excel PivotTable reports cannot display both simultaneously, and as a result, some PivotTable list layouts cannot be exported to Excel. However, Excel PivotTable reports allow indented layouts that aren't available for PivotTable lists on the Web.

Showing and hiding detail   Items (item: A subcategory of a field in PivotTable and PivotChart reports. For instance, the field "Month" could have items such as "January," "February," and so on.) in PivotTable lists on the Web display to show detail and to hide detail. In Excel PivotTable reports, you can show and hide detail by double-clicking items, using the field drop-down arrows, or clicking Show Detail and Hide Detail on the PivotTable toolbar.

Sort order   When you initially bind data to a PivotTable list on a Web page, items in the PivotTable list are displayed in the order in which they are received from the source data (source data: The list or table that's used to create a PivotTable or PivotChart report. Source data can be taken from an Excel list or range, an external database or cube, or another PivotTable report.). Depending on the type of source data, items may initially be sorted in ascending order in an Excel PivotTable report.

Filtering   In PivotTable lists on the Web, when you filter the lower levels of items, your filtering remains in effect when these fields aren't displayed. In Excel PivotTable reports, these filter settings aren't retained, but you can refilter the lower levels when you display them.

Formatting   In a PivotTable list on a Web page, formatting applies only to selected parts of the list, not to cells. You can select and format fields, items, and totals with character and cell formats. In an Excel PivotTable report, you can format cells or selected parts of the report, and you can change what's displayed for errors and empty cells.

Refresh   PivotTable lists on the Web are always refreshed when you initially open them in the browser (browser: Software that interprets HTML files, formats them into Web pages, and displays them. A Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, can follow hyperlinks, transfer files, and play sound or video files that are embedded in Web pages.). Excel PivotTable reports are usually refreshed only when you click Refresh Data , but you can set them to be refreshed when you open the file and at timed intervals.

Help   Help for PivotTable lists on the Web is provided as a list of topics that you can search. In Excel, the Office Assistant is available to provide help.

Displaying detail   In a PivotTable list on a Web page, you can display all of the available source data in list (list: A series of rows that contains related data or a series of rows that you designate to function as a datasheet by using the Create List command.) format, without summarizing any of the data. When data is summarized, the list can show full underlying detail for any item if the detail is available from the source data. In Excel PivotTable reports, you can display the underlying detail, if available from the source data, for only one cell in the data area at a time, and Excel puts this data on a separate worksheet.

Editing detail data   Excel PivotTable reports do not have this feature. A PivotTable report in Excel can display only data that's present in the underlying source list or database.

Calculated fields in the detail area   Because an Excel PivotTable report has no equivalent for the detail area of a PivotTable list on the Web, calculated fields located in the detail area aren't exported to Excel.

Filter by selection   In PivotTable lists on the Web, you can filter the data to match a selected cell. In Excel PivotTable reports, you can filter data only by showing and hiding items.

Filtering for top and bottom items   Although Excel also has this feature, some top or bottom filters from PivotTable lists on Web pages can't be displayed in Excel.

Grouping items by text type   Excel doesn't have the ability to group items by text, such as grouping all the items that start with the same letter. Groups of this type aren't displayed in Excel.

Grouping date items by week   Excel PivotTable reports don't allow items to be grouped by week. Items grouped by week in a PivotTable list on a Web page are displayed in Excel grouped by month.

OLAP property fields   Excel can display property fields (property fields: Independent attributes associated with items, or members, in an OLAP cube. For example, if city items have size and population properties stored in the server cube, a PivotTable report can display the size and population of each city.) within a PivotTable report, but does not display them as ScreenTips when you rest the pointer over an item. PivotTable lists have some display and filtering options available through Web scripts (script: A type of computer code used to perform tasks on Web pages, such as incrementing a "number of visitors" counter each time there is a new visitor. Web scripts can be written in several script languages. Scripts do not need to be compiled to be run.) that Excel does not provide, and as a result, some property fields displayed on a Web page don't appear when the PivotTable list is exported to Excel.

Setting report size   A PivotTable list on a Web page fills a window of a certain size within the Web page. Excel PivotTable reports, contained on an Excel worksheet, use as many cells on the worksheet as are necessary to display the data.

Hyperlinks   Excel PivotTable reports don't support hyperlinks. Only the text of the hyperlinks from PivotTable lists appears in Excel.

Charts   If a Web page has both a PivotTable list and an associated chart, you cannot export both the list and the chart to Excel and have them continue to be linked together in Excel. However, you can export the PivotTable list to Excel and then create a new Excel PivotChart report (PivotChart report: A chart that provides interactive analysis of data, like a PivotTable report. You can change views of data, see different levels of detail, or reorganize the chart layout by dragging fields and by showing or hiding items in fields.) based on it.