a formally functional excel pivot table is now deleting table format when refreshed

Good day Thomas Dresser,

Welcome to the Q&A Forum and apologies for any inconvenience you're experiencing.

From what you wrote, I understand that your Excel Pivot Table loses its formatting when you refresh it, prompting you to rebuild the table. After rebuilding, refreshing again causes the same issue.

Here are a few things you can check and try:

1. Check your data source: If the data source for the Pivot Table changed or isn’t correctly connected, refreshing can cause issues.

Go to PivotTable Analyze > Change Data Source and confirm the range or table name is still valid after your recent data load.

2. Preserve formatting and layout

If you apply formatting while rows or columns are hidden by filters or collapsed, or if you later add/remove fields, refreshing can expose new cells and reset everything to default. To help prevent this:

• Select any cell in your Pivot Table and right-click > PivotTable Options.
• In the Layout & Format tab: Check Preserve cell formatting on update (if already checked, uncheck and recheck)
• Optional: To prevent column widths from changing, also uncheck the Autofit column widths on update box.
• Click OK to apply.

Tip: Make sure the table is fully expanded and unfiltered before applying formatting.

3. Excel updates: Make sure your version of Excel is up to date, as outdated versions can sometimes contribute to unexpected behavior.

You can do this by going to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.

I hope my suggestions could help. Let me know how things go or if you need further support!

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