Pivot Table - Clear Old Items

Old Items Remain in Pivot Field Dropdowns
The data in the pivot table source may change, and items that were previously in the source are no longer included. For example, some sales reps may leave the company, and the names of their replacements appear in the source table.
Even after you refresh the pivot table, the names of the old sales reps will appear, along with the new names. In the list at right, Cartier has replace Gill, but Gill still appears in the list.
This pivot table tutorial shows how you can clear the old items either manually or programmatically.

Manually Clear Old Items
To manually clear the old items from the list:
If you manually created any groups that include the old items, ungroup those items.
Drag the pivot field out of the pivot table.
On the Pivot toolbar, click the Refresh button
Drag the pivot field back to the pivot table

Change the Retain Items Setting in Excel 2007
To prevent old items from being retained in an Excel 2007 pivot table, you can change an option setting:
Right-click a cell in the pivot table
Click on PivotTable options
Click on the Data tab
In the Retain Items section, select None from the drop down list.
Click OK, then refresh the pivot table.

Programmatically Clear Old Items
In Excel 2002, and later versions, you can programmatically change the pivot table properties, to prevent missing items from appearing, or clear items that have appeared.

Sub DeleteMissingItems2002All()
'prevents unused items in non-OLAP PivotTables
'pivot table tutorial by contextures.com
Dim pt As PivotTable
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim pc As PivotCache

'change the settings
For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
For Each pt In ws.PivotTables
pt.PivotCache.MissingItemsLimit = xlMissingItemsNone
Next pt
Next ws

'refresh all the pivot caches
For Each pc In ActiveWorkbook.PivotCaches
On Error Resume Next
pc.Refresh
Next pc

End Sub


Regards,
Praveen KVC
4 January 2010