Group pivot results by years and quarters

Quick answer

Select one date cell in a PlanMaker pivot report, click Group… in the pivot sidebar, and choose both Years and Quarters. Keeping the year prevents January records from different years being mistaken for the same reporting quarter. Verify the boundary between March 31 and April 1 against the raw records.

Use a compact two-year fixture

This workflow is scoped to paid PlanMaker 2024 on Windows with the English ribbon. It covers grouping an existing pivot, not every aspect of basic pivot design. Use a disposable workbook and a source tab named Periods with A1 Date and B1 Amount.

Enter these four records in A2:B5:

Row	Date	Amount
2	January 15, 2026	10
3	March 31, 2026	20
4	April 1, 2026	40
5	January 15, 2027	80

Use actual date values accepted by your installation, not text that merely looks like a date. All Amount cells must be numeric. Keep headings unique, omit blank rows, and do not include a precomputed total in the source range.

The expected total is 150. Broken out by year and quarter, 2026 Q1 is 30, 2026 Q2 is 40, and 2027 Q1 is 80. The 2026 annual total is 70. These comparisons make two common mistakes visible: combining years, and putting a quarter-boundary date into the wrong period.

Prepare the ungrouped pivot

Select A1:B5 and choose Insert > Tables > Pivot table. Check the source range, choose New worksheet for the destination, and click Insert. In the field-list sidebar, drag Date to Row labels and Amount to Values. Confirm that the amounts are summed, not counted.

Before grouping, reconcile the four dates and amounts. A count of one beside every date is not the desired financial-style sum. A grand total of 150 establishes that all four amounts are represented, but you still need the grouping checks below.

If you want a broader introduction to pivot layout, the separate basic pivot guide explains the purpose of rows and values. This tutorial’s controls and scope remain grounded in the 2024 documentation even where another page describes a later release.

Group by year and quarter

1. In the report, select exactly one cell containing a date label. Do not select the source date column, a numeric amount, or several report cells.
2. Click Group… at the bottom of the pivot sidebar.
3. In the date-grouping dialog, leave the automatic start/end bounds enabled for this complete source fixture.
4. Select Years and Quarters. The documentation allows multiple time units to be selected; click an already-selected unwanted unit to deselect it.
5. Confirm with Group.

Inspect the resulting hierarchy by its labels. Under 2026, the first quarter must total 30 and the second 40. Under 2027, the first quarter must total 80. The total across those three populated groups remains 150. Displayed subtotal rows should not be added again when checking the grand total.

This exercise chooses calendar periods, not numeric bands. Date grouping, numeric interval grouping and manual text groups are different dialogs. The official numeric-band example contains an ambiguous interval illustration, so no exact numeric-band boundary behavior is asserted here.

Change one boundary case without assuming refresh

On the source tab, change A4 from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2026, leaving its amount 40. The new expected distribution is 2026 Q1 70, no remaining April record, and 2027 Q1 80. The grand total stays 150. This is a particularly useful check because a total-only audit would see no difference.

Do not assume an old pivot automatically reflects the changed source. For this controlled comparison, create a second pivot from the same A1:B5 range on a new worksheet, using the same field placement and Years/Quarters grouping. Compare its results to the earlier report. This deliberate rebuild avoids inventing a refresh control not covered by the grouping instructions.

Restore A4 to April 1 when finished. Rebuild a final comparison report, or use a refresh workflow separately verified for your exact build, and check the original 30/40/80 distribution again. Keep temporary reports clearly named so an older cached summary cannot be mistaken for the final one.

Undo the grouping and preserve the workbook

To examine the underlying date labels again, select a cell belonging to the grouped field and click Ungroup in the sidebar. This resets the grouping of that field, not every grouping in every report. Regroup with Years and Quarters if that is the view you intend to retain.

Save as a native PMDX practice file, close it and reopen it. Check the source boundary dates and the final report labels. If exporting to another format, inspect the grouped output in the receiving application separately rather than assuming the grouping metadata survives unchanged.

If Group is unavailable or presents an unexpected dialog, inspect what cell is selected and whether the source dates are genuine dates. If Q1 appears to include both years, inspect the selected grouping units. If amounts are wrong before grouping, repair the underlying pivot rather than trying to compensate with a different period setting.

No native pivot was created or refreshed during authoring.

Official references

References: grouping, source requirements, and existing-data setup.