Your pivot table keeps its own copy of the data

You deleted the sheet with the salaries before sending the workbook. The pivot table built from it still works. That is not a coincidence — it is the warning sign.

Why the pivot still works without its sheet

A pivot table does not read the worksheet each time you open the file. It reads the pivot cache: a full copy of every source row that Excel stores inside the workbook when the pivot is created. The cache is what makes pivots fast, and it is saved with the file by default.

So deleting the source sheet removes the visible tab and leaves the copy in place. Every row you thought you deleted is still in the file. A recipient does not need to go looking for it either — double-clicking any value in a pivot table makes Excel write out the underlying rows for that cell on a new sheet.

How to check what your workbook carries

Inside Excel, right-click the pivot table, choose PivotTable Options and open the Data tab. If Save source data with file is ticked — it is, by default — the workbook you send contains the cached rows.

You can also test it the blunt way: double-click a number in the pivot. If Excel produces a sheet full of the underlying records, those records are in the file.

How to remove the cached copy

1. Right-click the pivot table and choose PivotTable Options.
2. On the Data tab, untick Save source data with file.
3. Tick Refresh data when opening the file so the pivot rebuilds itself from its source.
4. Save the workbook.

If the source sheet is still in the file, the pivot refreshes and behaves exactly as before. If you deleted the source, the pivot opens empty — which is the correct outcome when the data was not meant to travel.

Two related things worth checking at the same time: external links to other workbooks store cached values from those files, and data connections store server and database names in their connection strings. Both are visible in Data → Queries & Connections.

A faster check, without uploading the file

Barecopy reads the workbook in your browser and reports what the pivot cache holds — how many rows and columns, and the name of the sheet they came from, even when that sheet no longer exists. The file is never transmitted; it is read by JavaScript in your own tab.

What Barecopy does about it

Detection is free. Removal is a Pro option, and it does exactly what the Excel setting does: it drops the cached records, switches the pivot definition to save no data, and marks it to refresh from its source on open. The field list stays, so the pivot layout survives.

External links and data connections are reported but not cut, on purpose — breaking a link turns the formulas that depend on it into errors. Barecopy shows you the paths and names the Excel command that does it safely.

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