Run-time error '1004': Unable to set the Visible property of the PivotItem class

There are two circumstances in which this error will arise when issuing a [PivotItem].Visible = True command in Visual Basic:

1. The sort order of the PivotField containing the PivotItem is set to anything other than xlManual; and,
2. The ShowAllItems value of the PivotField containing the PivotItem is set to False and an attempt is made to set a PivotItem containing no data (i.e. [PivotItem].RecordCount = 0) to True.

To process [PivotItem].Visible = True safely you should issue the following commands first:

[PivotField].AutoSort xlManual, [PivotField].SourceName
[PivotField].ShowAllItems = True