Perspectives Dialog Box

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With the Create and Manage Perspectives dialog box, you can add, edit, delete, copy, and view perspectives. In the PowerPivot window, click the File button to the left of the Home tab, and then click Switch to Advanced Mode. The Perspectives button appears in the Advanced tab of the PowerPivot window. To open the Perspectives dialog box, in the PowerPivot window, on the Advanced tab, click the Perspectives button.

Perspectives are metadata layers that track different slices or sets of data. Perspectives are typically defined for a particular user group or business scenario and make it easier to navigate large data sets.

Note

You must work in Advanced Mode of the PowerPivot window to enable the Perspectives feature set. To access Advanced Mode, click the File button to the left of the Home tab, and then click Switch to Advanced Mode. Return to the Excel window or the Advanced tab in the PowerPivot window to use the perspectives feature.

  • Objects to be added to the perspective are displayed in rows. Perspectives are displayed in columns.

  • The Measures & KPI’s section is for adding measures and KPIs to a perspective.

  • The Tables section is for adding tables and columns. The columns for each table are displayed as child nodes of each table. You can collapse and expand the parent objects.

  • Each row contains a checkbox for each perspective so that you can specify whether each row is included (checked) or excluded (unchecked) from each individual perspective.

  • Each parent object contains an object checkbox so that you can include and/or exclude all the nodes of a particular object in on operation. For example, if you uncheck a particular table node, then the entire table (including all the columns of that particular table) is excluded.

  • One empty perspective is shown in detail when you first open the Create and Manage Perspectives dialog box. The title of the perspective is called New Perspective, and it has no boxes checked by default. If you do not make any chances and click OK, the perspective is not created.

User Actions

The Add Perspective button is above the Objects grid. All other actions (rename, delete, and copy) are available above a perspective as you hover over it.

Add Perspective

Click Add Perspective to add a new perspective, with all the rows unchecked, to the right of the existing perspective. You can then check and uncheck respective objects and provide a name to the new perspective.

If you create an empty perspective with all the object fields unchecked, then a user connecting to this perspective seed an empty Field List. We recommend that you reference at least one table in the perspective.

Edit Perspective

To modify a perspective, check and uncheck boxes in the perspective’s column, which adds and removes objects from the perspective.

Rename Perspective

When you hover over the perspective’s column header (the name of the perspective), the Rename button appears. To rename the perspective, click Rename, and then enter a new name or edit the existing name. Press Enter when you are finished.

Delete Perspective

When you hover over the perspective’s column header (the name of the perspective), the Delete button appears. To delete the perspective, click the Delete button, and then click Yes in the confirmation window.

Copy Perspective

When you hover over the perspective’s column, the Copy button appears. To create a copy of that perspective, click the Copy button. A copy of the selected perspective is immediately added as a new perspective to the right of all the existing perspectives. The new perspective inherits the name of the copied perspective and a - Copy annotation is appended to the end of the name. For example, if a copy of the Sales perspective is created, the new perspective is called Sales – Copy.

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Add a perspective: ALT+N

  • Expand or collapse tables: Spacebar

See Also

Concepts

Take a Tour of the PowerPivot UI

Perspectives in PowerPivot

What's New in PowerPivot