XL98: Purpose of the PivotTable Optimize Memory Option
ID: Q185325
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The information in this article applies to:
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Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
SUMMARY
This article explains the PivotTable Optimize Memory option that is
available when you create a PivotTable that is based on external data.
MORE INFORMATION
PivotTables in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition offer new memory
management capabilities when you query external data. When you query
external data in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, memory error messages
commonly appear. The memory that is required by Microsoft Excel to process
the query, to build the PivotTable, to display the data, and to interact
with the various Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers exceeds memory
limits.
In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, PivotTable storage (the cache) is
optimized for dimensions (row or column arrays of data) with 256 or fewer
unique items. However, this optimization applies only to cache updating
operations. Microsoft Excel 98 extends this optimization to PivotTables by
determining the number of items for each field prior to initially
populating the cache. This option can be made available by selecting
Optimize Memory in the PivotTable Options dialog box. You can access this
dialog box in step 4 of the PivotTable Wizard. In an existing PivotTable,
press CONTROL and click the PivotTable, and then click Options on the
shortcut menu.
Microsoft Excel issues a series of queries via ODBC to the external data
source in order to determine how many unique records are in each field.
These queries are issued prior to returning the data to the PivotTable.
Microsoft surveys the results of the queries when it populates the
PivotTable cache to determine whether storage of each dimension can be
optimized. The optimization results in additional queries when you update
the PivotTable or when you change its layout; therefore optimization may
cause a decline in performance. The degree of performance degradation is a
function of the efficiency of the ODBC driver, the performance of the file
server that serves the source data, and the size of each dimension list.
For additional information about PivotTable specifications, please see the
following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q179331 XL98: Limits of PivotTables in Microsoft Excel 98
REFERENCES
For more information about optimizing PivotTables, click Contents And Index
on the Help menu (or on the Balloon Help menu if you are using a version of
the Macintosh operating system earlier than 8.0), click the Index button in
Microsoft Excel 98 Help, type the following text
pivottable, troubleshooting
and then click Show Topics. Select the "Troubleshooting PivotTables" topic, click Go To, and select "The system doesn't have enough memory
to create the PivotTable". If you are unable to find the information you
need, ask the Office Assistant.
Additional query words:
XL98 pivot table
Keywords : kbdta xlpivot
Version : MACINTOSH:98
Platform : MACINTOSH
Issue type : kbinfo