In a pivot table, how can you create a quick count of items per category without writing formulas?

• A. By applying a standard filter.
• B. By using a pivot table value field with a count aggregation.
• C. By sorting the data in ascending order.
• D. By converting to a chart.

Answer: (B)

Pivot tables summarize data by aggregating values. To count how many items fall into each category without writing formulas, put the category field in the rows area to create the groups, then add a value field and set the calculation to Count. This uses the pivot table’s built-in counting, giving a quick, dynamic tally for every category by counting non-empty records (you can count a field like an item ID to ensure a proper count). Other options like filtering, sorting, or converting to a chart won’t produce a per-category tally on their own; they either change visibility, order, or presentation, not the actual counts.