Well here’s something that I probably learned once, but have subsequently forgotten and then rediscovered: You can filter a PivotTable Page Field just by typing the PivotItem that you want to filter it on. So if I start with a PivotTable like this:
 
Pivot Unfiltered
 
 
And say I don’t like the look of the mysterious substance that the kids have left smeared all over the mouse (probably just jam, but who the hell knows). I desperately want to filter that PivotField, but I desperately want to avoid the mouse. Well, watch what happens if I ust overtype the (All) in the PageField with the thing I want to filter by:
 Pivot Overtype PageField
 
BING!
 
Pivot Filtered
 
 
What’s more, if I type the name of a field that’s not already in the PivotTable over the existing PageField name:
 
Pivot New PageField
 
 
…then Excel does something else intelligent: it says “Oh, you want me to bring that PageField into the Pivottable for you.”
 
Pivot New PageField Inserted
 
 
The same thing in terms of adding new Fields goes for RowFields:
 
Pivot New RowField
 
Pivot New RowField Inserted
 
 
If you think about it, the adding of the fields is the same behavior as simply overtyping fields already in the PivotTable to rearrange them.

Regardless, now that this secret’s out, I don’t have to chip the sticky crap from my Mouse. As Phyllis Diller once said…Housework can’t kill you, but why take a chance? No, I don’t know who she is, either.