Pivot table column duplicates

[Guest]

I have a simple pivot table referencing three columns of data: store name,
item number, quantity sold. When I convert this to a pivot table, showing
store name and item number as X and Y axis, and quantity sold as the data, I
get duplications for the item numbers. The caveat is that it doesn't
duplicate exactly, it looks like this:
Item #1 Item #1 Item #2 Item #2 Item #3 Item #3
Store A 55 66 77
Store B 44 88 99
Store C 33 22
33

What can I do to get all my data to show just one column for each item
number? Since I only have three columns of data that I am referencing, I
don't understand why the Pivot table is splitting this data.

 

[Debra Dalgleish]

If the Item numbers are entered differently in the source table, they'll
show up as different items in the pivot table. Perhaps some of the item
numbers have spaces at the end, and others don't.

To limit the entries, you could use a data validation list in the source
data table. There are instructions in Excel's help, and here:

http://www.contextures.com/xlDataVal01.html

 

[Guest]

This did the trick! We actually used the text to columns function to limit
the item number to five digits, which got rid of the spaces. Thanks for the
assistance!

 

[Debra Dalgleish]

You're welcome! Thanks for letting me know how you fixed it.