PowerPivot for Excel

Power Pivot: Powerful data analysis and data modelling in Excel

Power Pivot is an Excel add-in you can use to perform powerful data analysis and create sophisticated data models. With Power Pivot, you can mash up large volumes of data from various sources, perform information analysis rapidly, and share insights easily.

In both Excel and in Power Pivot, you can create a Data Model, a collection of tables with relationships. The data model you see in a workbook in Excel is the same data model you see in the Power Pivot window. Any data you import into Excel is available in Power Pivot, and vice versa.

How the data is stored

The data that you work on in Excel and in the Power Pivot window is stored in an analytical database inside the Excel workbook, and a powerful local engine loads, queries, and updates the data in that database. Because the data is in Excel, it is immediately available to PivotTables, Pivot Charts, Power View, and other features in Excel that you use to aggregate and interact with data. All data presentation and interactivity are provided by Excel; and the data and Excel presentation objects are contained within the same workbook file.

Power Pivot supports files up to 2GB in size and enables you to work with up to 4GB of data in memory.

Download PowerPivot for Excel

• Go to the Microsoft Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=258219).


• Download either the x86 (32-bit) or the x64 (64-bit) version of PowerPivot_for_Excel.msi installation program. The version of the add-in must correspond to the version of Excel on your computer.

To determine whether you are using 32-bit or 64-bit software, look at the C:\Program Files folder.

Download x86\PowerPivot_for_Excel_x86.msi if you have only “C:\Program Files”. Both the operating system and Office 2010 are 32-bit.

Download x86\PowerPivot_for_Excel_x86.msi if you have both “C:\Program Files” and “C:\Program Files (x86)”, and the Excel.exe application file is found in “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14”. The operating system is 64-bit, but the version of Office is 32-bit.

Download x64\PowerPivot_for_Excel_amd64.msi if you have both “C:\Program Files” and “C:\Program Files (x86)”, and the Excel.exe application file is found in “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14”. Both the operating system and Office 2010 are 64-bit.

Install PowerPivot for Excel

• Double-click the .msi file to start the Setup wizard. Click Run.


• Click Next to get started.


• Accept the license agreement, and then click Next.


• Enter your name, and then click Next.


• Click Install.

Click Finish.

Verify Installation

Start Excel. After you install the add-in, you can open the PowerPivot window by clicking the PowerPivot tab on the Excel ribbon, and then clicking PowerPivot Window.

An empty PowerPivot window opens over the Excel application window.

You can then use the Import Wizard to add tables of data, create relationships between the tables, enrich the data with calculations and expressions, and then use this data to create PivotTables and PivotCharts.

Stay tuned for more information in my upcoming posts.