What are relationships in excel

Excel is not a database for sure; however, people tend to use it as a database. Since primary versions of Excel, people keep on using it for making the connection between different tables with the help of VLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH, SUMIF, etc.

Making reports was never an easier task as handling larger datasets is a tricky thing. Excel Data Model is a true blessing that lets you save time using automatic data reports. Here we will talk about how to create a relationship in Excel. Using the Data Model, you can make the connection between two tables and a figure of the relationship in a pivot table side by side.

To understand how to create a relationship between two tables in Excel, let’s start with a quick overview of the relationship.

What is a Relationship?

Merging two different tables result in a relationship:

• Within two tables, you must find a mutual column. However, you don’t need to allocate the same name to the columns. 
• The new column must have distinctive entries only. 

Hundreds of tables exist in relational databases that make such kinds of relationships. In Excel, you can make a fundamental relational structure using the Data Model option. Suppose an Order data table and a Sales data table, both contain a mutual column State. And both tables have duplicate data in these columns, so you are not allowed to add that column to the new table. You have to skip the State column.

Why Is It Important to Make a Relationship? 

Realizing the importance of anything helps you understand why you should use it. Just a single data table is not enough to provide all the information needed to make a report. It often happens in many cases, that’s why the need of creating relationship tables in Excel comes up. 

Taking the above example, making a report about a person who marked the order is not likely to be placed in the Sales data table. Making a relationship between two tables Order and Sales just need the Order ID to extract the name from the table to be used in the Sales report.

Note: Remember that PivotTables replace the term “column” with “field.” 

The Fundamental Needs

Before understanding how to create a relationship in Excel, let’s understand the basics of this process. For this, you must have Power Pivot and Power Query to complete the process of making an Excel Data Model. 

Below you will find out the starting procedure:

How to Get Power Pivot 

For Excel 2010, the Power Pivot add-in is needed to be downloaded from Microsoft. Once the downloading is complete, make sure to install it properly on your system. 

For Excel 2013, you don’t need to download or install anything manually as the Office Pro Plus edition of Excel 2013 has a built-in Power Pivot. You just need to activate it before using it. 

To activate the Power Pivot follow the steps given below: 

• Open the Excel workbook and click the Ribbon on the File. 
• Click on the Options and you will see a window of Excel Options. 
• Next, click on Add-ins.
• On the Manage box, click the drop-down menu and choose COM Add-ins. 
• Press Go and choose the checkbox for Microsoft Power Pivot for Excel.

How to Get Power Query (Get & Transform) 

• For Excel 2010, similar to the Power Pivot add-in, you need to download the Power Query add-in from Microsoft. 
• Once the downloading is complete, you need to install it properly and you will start seeing the Power Query on the Ribbon.  
• For Excel 2013, again you don’t need to download and install anything as there is a built-in Power Query. You just have to activate it by following the same steps you did to make Power Pivot functional in Excel 2013. 
• For Excel 2016 and Later, you have to go to the Data tab on Excel Ribbon to get the Power Query (Get & Transform). 

How to Create a Relationship in Excel – Step-by-Step Guide

• At first, you need to set your data as tables. In the process of making a table, you have to select a random cell in the range and press Ctrl + T. From the design tab, you have to spell out a name for the table. 
• Next, you have to open the data ribbon & click on the relationships button. 
• To make a new relationship, you have to click on the New. 
• Choose Source table & column name. To mark the table and column name, you need to record it. It does not matter what order you are using for making this relationship table. You should never underestimate the power of Excel no matter what.  

• Now, you can add more relationships as required.

Things to Consider About Relationship

Keep in mind that VLOOKUPS and making relationships both are alike somehow. Duplicate data columns are needed for Excel to cross-reference rows of one table to the other.

While using relationships, you must keep in mind that there must be similar data types in both columns. For instance, connecting columns of both tables must have the same data type.

Excel 2013 holds up one to one or one to many relationships only. It simply shows that one of the tables is free from duplicate values on the linking columns. For instance, the products table must not contain similar product IDs.  

Slicing these Pivot Tables is easier just the way you can do with normal Pivot Tables. For instance, you can further slice the products report on the products prices.

Do You Like Using Relationships?

Well, the relationships feature has replaced many tools and things. People skipped VLOOKUP for most of their analysis. Now, relationships features have become the central part of Excel, which is being used more and more.

You should try using relationship tables and data models in Excel. Elaborate your thoughts about using relationship tables and data models with us. I hope that you got an idea about how to create a relationship in Excel. Now, try it, share it and practice it.

Ever had multiple related tables and wondering how to create a report that connects them together in a single Pivot Table? We have just the thing with Data Model and Relationships!

This is our data that we will use. What we want to do is create a report that shows the First Name of the student and the Number of Classes that the student has taken.

The tricky part here is the First Name is in the Students Table, while the number of classes can be retrieved from the Classes Table. Both tables are linked by the StudentId column.

STEP 1: Select the Classes Table. Go to Insert > Pivot Table > New Worksheet 

Make sure to tick Add this data to the Data Model. Click OK.

STEP 2: Select the Students Table. Go to Insert > Pivot Table > New Worksheet 

Make sure to tick Add this data to the Data Model. Click OK.

STEP 3: Click All in PivotTable Fields and you should see both tables there.

STEP 4: Now we need to link them together! Go to PivotTable Tools > Analyze > Calculations > Relationships

Click New.

STEP 5: There are 2 sides of a relationship when we want to link them together.

The rule of thumb, is the primary table should have no duplicates. This is the Students table as it does not have duplicate Student Ids.

Set the following then Click OK.

Table – Classes

Column – StudentId

Related Table – Students

Related Column – StudentId

Click Close.

STEP 6: In the ROWS section put in the Students(FirstName) field.  In the VALUES section put in the Classes (ClassName) field.

With just that, you can see that Excel was able to show the results in a merged fashion! You can see Daisy has 2 classes enrolled. And from the individual tables, you would not have that information readily available!

How to Use the Data Model in Excel Pivot Tables

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About The Author

Excel isn’t a database, but that hasn’t stopped people from using it as one.

People have been doing this since early versions of Excel and creating relationships between different tables using VLOOKUP or INDEX and MATCH.

The good news is that more and more database-like functionality is being added with each version, and since Excel 2013 we’ve been able to add relationships to tables.

This example has an Orders table that contains data related to customer orders such as the Customer ID, Product Sold, and the Total.

Another table called Customers has the Name and Country for each Customer ID. But what do you do if you want to analyze the Orders data by customer Name or Country?

One solution would be to add two more columns to the Orders data and use a VLOOKUP function to bring in the customer Name and Country based on the Customer ID.

Another more elegant solution would be to use the pivot table Data Model to create a Relationship between the Orders table and the Customers table using the Customer ID field in both tables.

Create a table based on the Orders table.

Go to the Insert tab in the ribbon and select Pivot Table from the Tables section.

From the Create PivotTable menu.

1. Select your Orders Table.
2. Check the Add this data to the Data Model box.
3. Press the Ok button.

Repeat these steps for the Customers table.

With either of your pivot tables created, you should see both tables in the PivotTable Fields window from the All view.

You can delete one of the pivot tables created since you only need one, the data will remain in the Data Model.

Build your pivot table with the Name from the Customers table in the Rows area and Total from the Orders table in the Values area.

1. Drag the Name field from the Customers table to the Rows area. Expand the table to see fields by clicking the arrow next to the table name.
2. Drag the Total field from the Orders table to the Values area.
3. A notice will appear above the field list saying Relationships between tables may be needed. From here you can select Auto-Detect and let Excel guess the relationships between your tables or you can Create them yourself.

If you choose Auto-Detect, Excel will work to create the relationships and you can check the results by pressing the Manage Relationships button or just Close the window.

With this simple relationship, Excel is easily able to create the relationship. Small tables and consistent field names between tables will help Auto-Detect to work.

If you choose to Create the relationships yourself then the Create Relationship menu will open.

1. Select the Orders table as the main Table.
2. Select Customer ID as the Column (Foreign).
3. Select the Customers table as the Related Table.
4. Select Customer ID as the Related Column (Primary).
5. Press the OK button to finish creating the relationship.

Now your resulting pivot table contains the customer Name from the Customers table along with the correct corresponding Total from the Orders table.

You can also create these relationships before trying to build the pivot table. You can do this from either the Data tab or the Analyze tab in the ribbon.

• Find the Relationships button in the Data tab under the Data Tools section.
• Find the Relationships button in the Analyze tab under the Calculations section.

This will open the Manage Relationships dialog box.

1. Here you can see the existing relationships and select them to Edit, Activate, Deactivate or Delete.
2. Create any new relationships using the New button.

This is an awesome way to avoid VLOOKUP or INDEX and MATCH, and minimize the columns in your tables.

3 minute read

Have you ever been in a VLOOKUP hell?

Its what happens when you have to write a lot of vlookup formulas before you can start analyzing your data. Every day, millions of analysts and managers enter VLOOKUP hell and suffer. They connect table 1 with table 2 so that all the data needed for making that pivot report is on one place. If you are one of those, then you are going to love Excel’s data model & relationships feature.

In simple words, this feature helps you connect one set of data with another set of data so that you can create combined pivot reports.

VLOOKUP hell vs. Data Model Heaven

Lets say you are looking sales data for your company. You have transaction data like below.

And you want to find out how many units you are selling by product category and customer’s gender.

Unfortunately, you only have product ID & customer ID.

With VLOOKUP Hell

1. You first fetch all the customer and product data and place them in separate ranges.
2. Then write a vlookup formula to fetch product category, another to fetch customer gender.
3. Then fill down the formulas for entire list of transactions.
4. Now make a pivot table.

Assuming you have 30,000 transactions, you have to write 60,000 VLOOKUP formulas to create this one report.

With Data Model heaven

1. Create relationships between Sales, Products & Customer tables
2. Create a pivot table

Creating a relationship in the Data Model

1. First set up your data as tables. To create a table, select any cell in range and press CTRL+T. Specify a name for your table from design tab.
2. Now, go to data ribbon & click on relationships button.
3. Click New to create a new relationship.
4. Select Source table & column name. Map it to target table & column name. It does not matter which order you use here. Excel is smart enough to adjust the relationship.
5. Add more relationships as needed.

Using relationships in Pivot reports & analysis

1. Select any table and insert a pivot table (Insert > Pivot table).
2. Make sure you check the “Add this data to data model” check box.
3. In your pivot table field list, check “ALL” instead of “ACTIVE” to see all table names.
4. Select fields from various tables to create a combined pivot report or pivot chart

Example: Category and Area Sales Report

1. Add Category to rows labels
2. Add Area to columns labels
3. Add Quantity to values
4. and your report is ready!

Excel Recognises a Relationship Between Tables may be Needed

In the demo file, the example pivot table is a Category and Area Sales Report, however when I added the fields to the pivot table, Excel recognised that I hadn’t yet made a relationship

Things to Keep in Mind When Using Relationships

• Same data types in both columns: Columns that you are connecting in both tables should have same data type (ie both numbers or dates or text etc.)
• One to one or One to many relationships only: Excel 2013 supports only one to many or one to one relationships. That means one of the tables must have no duplicate values on the column you are linking to. (for example products table should not have duplicate product IDs).
• You can add slicers too: You can slice these pivot tables on any field you want (just like normal pivot tables). For example, you can further slice the above report on customer’s profession or product’s SKU size.

Download Example File

Click here to download the example file: data-model-example.xlsx. It contains 3 different tables and a combined pivot report and a slicer to show you what is possible.

Excel directly doesn’t provide us ready to use a database, but we can create one using relationships between various tables. This type of relationship helps us identify the interconnections between the table and helps us whenever a large number of datasets are connected in multiple worksheets. We can look for or easily find out certain information very quickly. 

Create Relational Tables in Excel

We will create two tables: one is the Master table and the other one is the detail table. The master table will have information like customer_id, product, sales channel, and cost. It will act as a primary table and rarely it will undergo a change. The detail table will have information like customer_id, name, and country. Data in the child table (detail table) changes frequently. We will create a relationship between two tables using the common column – customer_id in both fields.

Table 1: Order table: We create an order table with fields customer_id, Product, sales channel, and Cost. 

Table 2: Customer table: We create a customer table with fields customer_id, Name, and country. 

Create both tables in excel either in the same sheet or as a separate file.

Method 1: By Creating a Pivot Table

Step 1: Go to the insert tab at the top of the ribbon and then Select PivotTable.

Step 2: “Create pivot table” dialog box appears. Here select the orders table in the first selection. (Here we have selected the range in our datasheet). Make sure to check the “add this data to the data model” field and then click OK.

Step 3: Do the same process for the customer table. Visualize the pivot table fields and go to “All view”. Both tables will be displayed. Here we have selected from the ranges so range name (range 2, range 3 in our case) will be displayed.

Step 4: To build a pivot table, select the name from the Customers table. Place it in the Rows area. We can either check the mark by expanding the table or dragging the field to the rows area. Select cost from the Orders table. Place it in the Values area.

Step 5: Pivot the table fields pane showing the notice that “Relationship between the tables is needed”. There are two options available:

• We can create the relationship between tables.
• Let the excel guess by clicking on “Auto Detect”.

Step 6: In Auto Detect, excel will create a relationship. Click on “manage relationship” to check. By clicking on “Auto Detect,” simple associations with smaller tables and consistent field names may be built automatically. Once done, click on the close button.

Step 7: The pivot table so created will have the customer name from the customer’s table and the total cost from the orders table.

If we want to create a relationship by ourselves, without letting excel do the auto-creation, click on the create button in the pivot table fields.

Step 8: It will open the edit relationship menu. Select the table containing orders as the main Table. (“range” in our case). Select Customer_id for the Column (Foreign). Select the table containing Customers as the Related Table. (“range1” in our case). Select Customer_id as the Related Column (Primary). Click ok to finish the relationship creation.

The pivot table so created will have the customer name from the customer’s table and the total cost from the orders table.

Method 2: By Creating a Relationship between Two Tables

Before creating a pivot table, we can create a relationship between two tables as shown:

Step 1: Go to the Data tab on the top of the ribbon and then to the data tools group. Click on the relationships button.

Step 2: This will open the relationships manage dialog box. All the existing relationships will be displayed with “active” status. We can perform all the options viz. edit, activate, deactivate, delete, auto-detect, etc.  

Step 3: Once done, click on close. This will create a table having a similar customer_id from both tables. It will display the customer’s name from the customer’s table and the total cost from the orders table.

Advantages of Relational Tables

• Aids in working with a large amount of data.
• Recognize relations among multiple tables.
• Helps in quickly searching data.
• Retrieve specific information easily and quickly.
• View the same data set in multiple ways.
• Reduce data errors and redundancy.

Excel is a powerful tool for data analysis and subsequent automation when handling large sets of data. You could be spending significant time analyzing tons of data using VLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, SUMIF, etc.

Thanks to the Excel Data Model, you can save precious time through automatic data reports. Find out how easily you can assign a relationship between two tables by using the Data Model and an illustration of such a relationship in a pivot table in the following section.

The Basic Requirements

You’ll need Power Pivot and Power Query (Get & Transform) to accomplish several tasks while creating Excel Data Model. Here is how you can get these features in your Excel workbook:

How to Get Power Pivot

1. Excel 2010: You’ll need to download the Power Pivot add-in from Microsoft and then install it for your Excel program on your computer.

2. Excel 2013: Office Professional Plus edition of Excel 2013 includes Power Pivot. But, you need to activate it before first use. Here is how:

1. Click on File on the Ribbon of an Excel workbook.
2. Then click on Options to open Excel Options.
3. Now, click on Add-ins.
4. Select COM Add-ins by clicking on the drop-down menu of the Manage box.
5. Click on Go and then select the checkbox for Microsoft Power Pivot for Excel.

3. Excel 2016 and Later: You’ll find the Power Pivot menu on the Ribbon.

How to Get Power Query (Get & Transform)

1. Excel 2010: You can download the Power Query add-in from Microsoft. After installation, Power Query will show up on the Ribbon.

2. Excel 2013: You need to activate Power Query by following the same steps that you just did to make Power Pivot functional in Excel 2013.

3. Excel 2016 and Later: You can find Power Query (Get & Transform) by going to the Data tab on Excel Ribbon.

Create Data Model by Importing Data to the Excel Workbook

For this tutorial, you can get pre-formatted sample data from Microsoft:

Download: Sample student data (data only) | Sample student data (complete model)

You can import a database with multiple related tables from many sources like Excel workbooks, Microsoft Access, websites, SQL Server, etc. Then you need to format the data set so that Excel can utilize it. Here are the steps that you can try:

1. In Excel 2016 and later editions, click on the Data tab and select New Query.

2. You will find several ways to import data from external or internal sources. Choose the one that suits you.

3. If using Excel 2013 edition, click on Power Query on the Ribbon and then select Get External Data to choose data for import.

4. You will see the Navigator box where you need to choose which tables you need to import. Click on the check box for Select multiple items to pick several tables for import.

5. Click on Load to complete the import process.

6. Excel will create a Data Model for you using these tables. You can see the table column headers in the PivotTable Fields listings.

You can also utilize Power Pivot functions like calculated columns, KPIs, hierarchies, calculated fields, and filtered datasets from Excel Data Model. For this purpose, you’ll need to generate Data Model from a single table. You can try these steps:

1. Format your data in a tabular model by selecting all of the cells containing data and then click Ctrl+T.

2. Now, select the entire table and then click on the Power Pivot tab on the Ribbon.

3. From the Tables section, click on Add to Data Model.

Excel will create table relationships between related data from the Data Model. For this, there should be primary and foreign key relationships within the imported tables.

Excel utilizes the relationship information from the imported table as a foundation to generate connections between the tables in a Data Model.

Build Relationships Between the Tables in the Data Model

Now that you have a Data Model in your Excel workbook, you’ll need to define relationships between the tables to create meaningful reports. You need to assign a unique field identifier or primary key to each table, like Semester ID, Class Number, Student ID, etc.

The Diagram View feature of Power Pivot will let you drag and drop those fields to build a relationship. Follow these steps to create table links in Excel Data Model:

1. On the Ribbon of the Excel workbook, click on the Power Pivot menu.

2. Now, click on Manage in the Data Model section. You’ll see the Power Pivot editor as shown below:

3. Click on the Diagram View button located in the View section of the Power Pivot Home tab. You’ll see table column headers grouped according to the table name.

4. You’ll now be able to drag and drop the unique field identifier from one table to another. Following is the relationship schematic between the four tables of the Excel Data Model:

The following describes the linkage between tables:

• Table Students | Student ID to table Grades | Student ID
• Table Semesters | Semester ID to table Grades | Semester
• Table Classes | Class Number to table Grades | Class ID

5. You can create relationships by choosing a pair of unique value columns. If there are any duplicates, you’ll see the following error:

6. You’ll notice Star (*) on one side and One (1) on the other in the Diagram View of relationships. It defines that a one-to-many relationship exists between the tables.

7. On the Power Pivot editor, click on the Design tab and then select Manage Relationships to know which fields make the connections.

Generate a PivotTable Using the Excel Data Model

You can now create a PivotTable or PivotChart to visualize your data from Excel Data Model. An Excel workbook may contain only one Data Model, but you can keep updating the tables.

Because data changes over time, you can continue to use the same model and save time when working with the same data set. You’ll notice more time savings when working on data in thousands of rows and columns. To create a PivotTable based report, follow these steps:

1. On the Power Pivot editor, click on the Home tab.

2. On the Ribbon, click on PivotTable.

3. Choose any one between New Worksheet or Existing Worksheet.

4. Select OK. Excel will add a PivotTable that will show the Field List pane on the right.

Following is a holistic view of a pivot table created by utilizing the Excel Data Model for the sample student data used in this tutorial. You can also create professional pivot tables or charts from big data using the Excel Data Model tool.

Transform Complex Data Sets Into Simple Reports Using Excel’s Data Model

Excel Data model utilizes the benefits of creating relationships between tables to produce meaningful pivot tables or charts for data reporting purposes.

You can continuously update the existing workbook and publish reports on updated data. You don’t have to edit formulas or invest time in scrolling through thousands of columns and rows each time the source data updates.