In the pivot table editor of Google Sheets, you will soon be able to choose between two layouts. New is the compact form, which Google describes in the Workspace Updates blog: All row fields are in a single column, subordinate levels are indented, and small buttons at the start of the row expand or collapse each group. The feature is available to all Workspace customers and all personal Google accounts; you don't need an additional subscription.
What changes for your pivot tables?
Until now, in Google Sheets each row field got its own column. If you summarize sales by region, customer, and product, for example, the three labels alone take up three columns, and the numbers slide to the right out of the visible area. This presentation is called outline form; Google is keeping it as an option.
In the compact form, region, customer, and product appear one below the other in the first column, with each level indented a bit further. The values thus start right in the second column. If you currently only need the top level, you collapse the remaining groups using the buttons instead of hiding rows or setting filters.
Why is this important for Excel files?
In Excel, the same layout is called compact form, and Microsoft creates new pivot tables this way by default. Until now, Google Sheets converted such tables into outline form on import, so the analysis looked different after opening than it did for the sender. Now the compact form is preserved on import, and the layout is likewise not lost when exporting back to Excel.
If accounting works with Excel and your team works with Google Sheets, the preserved layout saves a step when sending an analysis back and forth. Until now, a pivot table in compact form came back in outline form after the detour through Google Sheets, and the recipient had to switch the report layout in Excel again.
When will you see the new option?
Google is rolling out the feature gradually. Until the layout selection appears in an account, up to 15 days can pass after the respective start date:
- Workspace domains with rapid release: starts on October 22, 2026
- Workspace domains with scheduled release: starts on November 6, 2026
Which of the two variants your company uses is determined by the admin in the Admin console. For personal Google accounts, Google has not published a separate date. Google does not mention any restriction to specific countries, so the feature also applies in Germany. The names of the layouts in this text are translated: In the announcement they are called Compact form and Outline form; a German help page on this is still missing.
What this means for you
It's best to open a pivot table with at least two row fields and click Edit below the table. In the editor you will then see whether the layout selection is already there. Pivot tables that Google Sheets converted during an earlier import can be switched to the compact form by hand there.
If you regularly receive Excel files with pivot tables, it's worth running a test as soon as the option appears in your account: Upload one of them again and compare the result with the original in Excel. How to create an analysis in Google Sheets from scratch is shown in the lesson Your first pivot table in the Google Sheets course.
Google announced the new feature on October 28, 2026.
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