Formatting is not retained in PivotTable in Excel

When you pivot fields or update data in a PivotTable, the formatting is cleared.

This problem occurs if you update data or change the layout of the table when the following conditions are true:

• You click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, point to Select, and then click Enable Selection (you deselect the option)
• You clear Preserve Formatting in the PivotTable Options dialog box.
• You format data in an existing PivotTable.

Microsoft Excel 97 includes "persistent" formatting. This means that formatting in PivotTables remains intact through pivots and updates. The formatting is tied to items and fields in the PivotTable that cause formatting to be removed when data is updated or fields are pivoted. To bind formatting to a selection of cells, select items using "structured" selection.

Structured selection allows you to select PivotTable areas, labels or data based on the data structure (for example, an item or field). This allows you to select different parts of the data that is associated with each item or field before you perform another action, such as formatting or data analysis. Structured selections are of three types: data, labels, or labels and data.

To make structured selection available, click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, point to Select, and then click Enable Selection.

Note: Microsoft Excel does not retain changes to cell borders when you change the layout or refresh a PivotTable.