How to Use Slicers in an Excel Pivot Table

Rootlet

Wed, 04 Nov 2026

A slicer is a set of buttons that filters a pivot table with one click. Microsoft describes slicers as buttons "that you can click to filter tables, or PivotTables", and they also show which filter is on at a glance. This guide shows you how to add one in Excel, step by step, using the same sample sales data as our pivot table guide.

If you haven't built a pivot table before, start with our beginner's guide to pivot tables. You'll need a pivot table to follow along.

Why use a slicer instead of a filter?

A pivot table already has filter drop-downs, so why bother with a slicer? Three reasons:

• It's quicker. You click a button instead of opening a drop-down and ticking boxes.
• You can see the filter. The selected buttons stay highlighted, so anyone reading your report knows it's showing only part of the data.
• One slicer can control several pivot tables. That's how simple Excel dashboards work.

Step 1: Get the sample data and a pivot table

We'll use made-up sales for a small stationery shop in March 2026: twelve rows with Date, Region, Product, Units and Sales in pounds. Download the sample data as an Excel file.

Build a pivot table on a new sheet with Region in Rows and Sales in Values. You should see this:

Step 2: Insert a slicer

These steps are for Excel for Windows (Microsoft 365), checked against Microsoft's guide to slicers:

1. Click any cell inside your pivot table.
2. Go to Insert > Slicer.
3. In the Insert Slicers box, tick Product.
4. Click OK.

A box appears with three buttons: Notebook, Pen set and Planner. All three are selected, so the pivot table still shows everything.

If you tick more than one field in step 3, Excel makes one slicer for each.

Step 3: Filter with one click

Click Notebook in the slicer. The pivot table now shows notebook sales only:

To show two products, hold Ctrl and click Planner as well. The grand total should change to 505 (Midlands 64, North 207, South 234).

To show everything again, click the Clear Filter button in the slicer's top-right corner. It's the funnel with a small red cross.

Step 4: Use one slicer for two pivot tables

This is where slicers really help. Make a second pivot table from the same data, this time with Product in Rows and Units in Values. Then connect the slicer to it:

1. Click the slicer. The Slicer tab appears on the ribbon.
2. Choose Report Connections.
3. Tick the second pivot table and click OK.

Now one click filters both tables. Microsoft notes that slicers can only be connected to pivot tables that share the same data source, so build both from the same table or range.

To disconnect a slicer later, click inside the pivot table, go to PivotTable Analyze > Filter Connections and untick the slicer.

Step 5: Filter by date with a timeline

For dates, Excel has a special kind of slicer called a timeline. Microsoft calls it "a dynamic filter option that lets you easily filter by date/time".

1. Click inside the pivot table.
2. Go to PivotTable Analyze > Insert Timeline.
3. Tick Date and click OK.

Switch the timeline to Days (it can also show years, quarters and months), then drag across 1 to 15 March. The grand total should drop to 402 (Midlands 72, North 132, South 198). Timelines and slicers work together: click Notebook as well and the total becomes 250.

Make your slicer look tidy

• Colour: click the slicer and pick a style on the Slicer tab. Choose one that matches your report.
• Size: drag a corner of the slicer to resize it.
• Buttons in a row: on the Slicer tab, raise the number of Columns so the buttons sit side by side above your table.
• Remove it: click the slicer and press Delete. Click Clear Filter first, so your pivot table goes back to showing all the data.

Common problems and quick fixes

• Insert Slicer is greyed out. Click a cell inside the pivot table first. In very old .xls files, save as .xlsx.
• The slicer won't connect to another pivot table. The two pivot tables were built from different data. Rebuild the second one from the same source.
• New data doesn't show in the slicer. Refresh the pivot table (PivotTable Analyze > Refresh). If your data is a range, turn it into a table (Ctrl+T) so new rows are picked up.

Keep going

Slicers are the first step towards a one-page Excel dashboard. Try adding a pivot chart next to your two pivot tables: the slicer filters the chart too.

Want to build a full dashboard? Intermediate Excel covers pivot tables, slicers and one-page dashboards, with practice files to work through.

New to Excel? Excel for Beginners starts from a blank sheet and finishes with pivot tables.

Sources

• Microsoft Support. Use slicers to filter data.
• Microsoft Support. Create a PivotTable timeline to filter dates.