When I try to group a field, I get an error message

Problem

When you try to group a field in your pivot table, you get the following error message: "Cannot group that selection."

Solution

One of the following scenarios can trigger this error message:

• The field you are trying to group is a text field.

• The field you are trying to group is a date field but contains text or blank cells.

• The field you are trying to group is a date field but is being recognized by Excel as text.

• The field you are trying to group is in the page area of your pivot table.

To resolve this issue, take the following steps:

1.	Go to your data source and make sure the field you are trying to group is formatted as Date and does not contain blanks cells or cells with text in them. Remove all text, format the cells in the field as Date, and fill in all blank cells with a dummy date.
2.	Highlight the column that contains the field you are trying to group. Go up to the application menu and select Data, Text to Columns. This will activate the Text to Columns Wizard. All you have to do in this wizard is click Next, click Next again, and then click Finish.
3.	Go back to your pivot table, right-click, and select Refresh Data.
4.	If the field you are trying to group is in the page area of your pivot table, move the field to the row or column area.
5.	At this point, you will be able to group the data items in your field. After the field is grouped, you can move it back to the page field if needed.