The following PivotTable issues cause a significant loss of functionality:

Issue Solution
A PivotTable in this workbook exceeds former limits and will be lost if it is saved to earlier file formats. Only PivotTables that are created in Compatibility Mode will work in earlier versions of Excel. In Excel, a PivotTable report supports 1,048,576 unique items per field, but in earlier versions of Excel, only 32,500 items per field are supported.

In the Compatibility Checker, click Find to locate the PivotTable that exceeds the former limits. When you save the workbook to Excel 97-2003 format, you can then re-create this PivotTable in Compatibility Mode.

For more information, see:

A PivotTable in this workbook contains conditional formatting rules that are applied to cells in collapsed rows or columns. To avoid losing these rules in earlier versions of Excel, expand those rows or columns. To avoid losing conditional formatting rules that are applied to cells in collapsed rows or column, you should expand the rows and columns before you save the workbook in an earlier Excel file format.

In the Compatibility Checker, click Find to locate the collapsed rows or columns that contain conditional formatting rules, and then expand those rows or columns.

For more information, see:

The following PivotTable issues cause a minor loss of fidelity:

Issue Solution
A PivotTable style is applied to a PivotTable in this workbook. PivotTable style formatting cannot be displayed in earlier versions of Excel. In Excel, you can quickly format a PivotTable report by applying a theme-based PivotTable style. In earlier versions of Excel, you can only format a PivotTable manually.

In the Compatibility Checker, click Find to locate the PivotTable that has a PivotTable style applied, and then remove that PivotTable style.

For more information, see:

A PivotTable in this workbook is built in the current file format and will not work in earlier versions of Excel. Only PivotTables that are created in Compatibility Mode will work in earlier versions of Excel. A PivotTable that has been created in the Excel file format cannot be refreshed in earlier versions of Excel. To avoid this issue, you may want to work in Compatibility Mode. When you create a PivotTable in Compatibility Mode, you can open it in earlier versions of Excel without loss of functionality.

In the Compatibility Checker, click Find to locate the PivotTable that is created in the current file format. When you save the workbook to Excel 97-2003 format, you can then re-create this PivotTable in Compatibility Mode.

For more information, see:

A PivotTable in this workbook has fields in compact form. In earlier versions of Excel, this layout will be changed to tabular form. In Excel, you can use compact form (alone or in combination with tabular and outline form) to keep related data from spreading horizontally off of the screen and to help minimize scrolling - fields are contained in one column and are indented to show the nested column relationship. In earlier versions of Excel, only outline form and tabular form are supported.

In the Compatibility Checker, click Find to locate the PivotTable that has fields in a compact form, and then change that format to tabular form as needed.

For more information, see: