Pivot table row fields limit vs. number of rows in use for Excel 2

[VP needs help]

I'm confused on the definitions of row field "items" limits vs. number of
rows in use, and "items" in a field and report.

Help bulletin 264626 states there is a limit of "8,000 items in a PivotTable
report".

HB 211517 states "There is a limit of 8,000 unique items per row field,
column field, or page field." And "The prduct of the number of items in all
row fields in a PivotTable cannot exceed ...approx. 2.1 billiion items."

Here is my problem. Existing PT report suddenly started showing error
message on Excel 2000 or earlier versions when trying to use drop down sort
box from Page field. Says "Unable to make change. Too many row field
items...drag one of the row fields to Page field location or delete from PT."
When I do either of these I can sort the drop down box again. Newer Excel
versions have no problem sorting, I'm guessing since they can handle up to
32,500 items in a field. I am trying to understand what exactly is the
limiting factor for the older versions. One expert is telling me that the
total number of report rows has a 2800 line limit but I can't find that
anywhere in the Help database. Year end report for last year was just under
2800 total rows and works fine for all versions. Currently trying to
consolidate data to get down to 2800 rows hoping report will again work on
older versions. Any insite would be appreciated.

 

[Jim Thomlinson]

The 8,000 limit refers to the number of member you are allowed to have in a
single dimension. A dimension is something like say Time, Geography, Parts
or... Members are the individual items that are stored in that dimension. So
for example a Parts dimension can only hold 8,000 unique Part Numbers. You
source data could have a million rows but the number of unique part numbers
can not exceed 8,000. Another way to think of it is that in any one dimension
there are only 8,000 buckets into which you can store amounts. As soon as you
come up with the 8,001 unique item then the pivot table will crash becuase it
ran out of buckets.

As for your limit of 2,800 I have not heard that one... Not to say that
there isn't one, but that is new to me.

 

[VP needs help]

Thanks Jim. That is a finite number per row field, or a combined number for
all? PT contains Sales Territory number, Customer name, Generator Name and
Generator State sorted by date of sales transaction where many of the
Customer name and Generator Name items are the same. If any one of the row
fields exceed 8,000 I would expect the sort function to stop working. From
this I would expect to have 8000 rows/lines for the report but am at 2800 and
limiting out. How can I determine which row field has exceeded the 8000
items? Is it the actual rows and cells that you can see on the report, or
does it include all of the background data entries that are sorted to fill in
the PT as you look at it?

 

[Jim Thomlinson]

It is a finite number per dimension. If I understand you correctly you have
the following dimensions (Give or take a few)...

Sales Territory number
Customer Name
Generator Name
Generator State
Date
Sales Amount

You can not have more than 8,000 unique Sales Territory Numbers, or 8,000
unique Customer Names, or 8,000 unique... The limit is per dimension (what I
think you are calling a field). Any place you have more than 8,000 you will
not be able to add that dimension (Field) to the left column, top row or
upper filter. If you do exceed that number then the pivot table just will not
work when you try to aggregate by that dimension. If you exceeded the 8,000
limit by adding more records of source data to an existing pivot table then
the pivot will not refresh properly.

Try creating a new pivot off of your existing source data and see which
field that it is having a problem with...