An offline cube file is a file with a .cub extension that stores a portion of the source data from an OLAP server database. Use an offline cube file to continue to make changes to PivotTable and PivotChart reports when the server is unavailable or when you are disconnected from the network.

Note If your OLAP database is large and you want the cube file to provide access to a large subset of the data, you will need to provide ample disk space, and saving the file may be time consuming.

Important You can create an offline cube file for a PivotTable report that shares a connection with another PivotTable report.

  1. Click the PivotTable report for which you want to create an offline cube file or the associated PivotTable report for a PivotChart report.
  2. On the Options tab, in the Tools group, click OLAP tools, and then click Offline OLAP.

    The Offline OLAP settings dialog box is displayed.

  3. Click Create offline data file, or if an offline cube file already exists for the report, click Edit offline data file.

    The Offline Cube Wizard is displayed.

  4. In step 1 of the wizard, click Next.
  5. In step 2 of the wizard, select each dimension from your server cube that has data that you want to include in the offline cube file. Click the plus box box next to each such dimension, and select the levels that you want to include.
    • You cannot skip intermediate levels within a dimension.
    • To reduce the size of the cube file, omit lower levels that you don't need to view in the report.
    • Be sure to include any dimensions where you have grouped items, so that Microsoft Office Excel can maintain these groupings when you switch between the server database and the offline file.
    • Dimensions that do not have a plus box box don't allow you to exclude levels. You can only include or exclude all of this type of dimension.
  6. In step 3 of the wizard, click the plus box box next to Measures, and select the fields that you want to use as data fields in the report. You must select at least one measure or the dimensions associated with the measure will contain no data. For each dimension listed below Measures, click the plus box box next to the dimension, and then select the top-level items to include in the offline cube file.
    • To limit the size of the cube file so that you don't run out of disk space and to reduce the amount of time to save the file, select only the items that you need to view in the report. Any property fields that are available for the items that you select are automatically included in the cube.
    • If items that you want to include are missing, you may not have included the dimension that contains them in the previous step. Click Back and select the missing dimension in step 2 of the wizard, and then return to step 3.
  7. In step 4 of the wizard, enter a name and location for the .cub file, and then click Finish.

    If you want to cancel saving the file, click Stop in the Create Cube File - Progress dialog box.

  8. When Excel finishes creating the offline cube file, click OK in the Offline OLAP Settings dialog box.