What Excel tool can be used for grouping and summarizing data?

The Subtotals tool in Excel is specifically designed to group and summarize data. When you apply subtotals to a dataset, Excel can automatically calculate sums, averages, counts, and other aggregate values for each group of data defined by a certain column. This makes it particularly useful when you want to analyze data that is categorized in some way—such as sales by region or expenses by department.

To use the Subtotals feature, you typically sort your data first by the category you wish to group by. Once sorting is done, you can then apply the Subtotals option, which allows you to specify the column to summarize and the type of aggregation to perform. This provides an organized overview that enhances your ability to review key metrics at a glance.

Other tools like Data Consolidation, Sorting, and Filtering serve different purposes. Data Consolidation focuses on aggregating data from different ranges into a single summary, Sorting organizes data without summarizing it, and Filtering allows you to view only specific data without changing the original dataset's structure. While each of these tools can assist in data management, they don't provide the same direct capability for grouping and summarizing that Subtotals does.