MS Forms - Pivot table Timeline box disappeared

Question

When viewing online results of my poll, the Pivot table Timeline box has occasionally disappeared from the pivot tables I've created from the data. The timeline boxes are visible when I download and open the results in Excel, but have disappeared from the online view. Last time this happened, the timeline box reappeared a few days later in the online version.

However, it's just disappeared again for me. If I try to re-add it, it doesn't appear in the online version, but when I download it, I can see I've added a second timeline box.

Is this a know glitch? What can I do when the pivot table timeline box disappears?

Answer 1

Let me know how it would go. Thanks.

Answer 2

Hello, are you opening the Forms results directly in the browser, or from a workbook saved in OneDrive or SharePoint?

Open the workbook in Excel for the web, go to File, Info, then select Open in Desktop App, then save the file back to OneDrive from the desktop app after removing and re-adding the Timeline, and refresh the browser page before reopening the file online; this forces the workbook to sync supported PivotTable objects and updates the web rendering so hidden controls like the Timeline load correctly.

Answer 3

The behavior described is consistent with limitations in how some PivotTable features (including Timeline controls) are supported in different Excel experiences. Timelines are fully visible and functional in the Excel desktop app, but certain PivotTable features may not be compatible or consistently available in Excel for the web, which is what Microsoft Forms uses when showing results online.

When a PivotTable uses features that are not fully supported in the current web experience, Excel can effectively treat the PivotTable as read-only or omit some interactive objects. This explains why:

• The Timeline appears and works correctly after downloading and opening in the Excel desktop app.
• Re-adding the Timeline in the desktop app creates another Timeline that is visible there, but still does not appear in the online view.
• The Timeline may intermittently appear or disappear in the online view as the web experience changes or updates.

To work around this when the Timeline disappears in the online view:

1. Use the downloaded workbook in the Excel desktop app as the primary place to view and interact with the Timeline.
2. If the online view is required, consider replacing the Timeline with supported filters such as Slicers or standard PivotTable filters, then verify behavior in Excel for the web.
3. If the issue persists and the Timeline is critical, keep using the desktop Excel file for analysis and share that file (or exported views) instead of relying on the Forms online PivotTable view.

This is effectively a limitation/compatibility issue rather than something that can be permanently fixed from the Forms side.

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References:

• PivotTable is read-only
• Create and share a Dashboard with Excel and Microsoft Groups