How to Add Numeric Cell Values in Microsoft Excel
- Acquired Office Skills
- Aug 6, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 7, 2021
Within this blog post, I will be outlining various methods of adding values in Microsoft Excel cells with and without the use of conditions (criteria) using the Microsoft Excel Autosum feature and functions namely SUM, SUMIF, and SUMIFS.
Download the spreadsheet below
Autosum
Autosum is a quick and easy method of adding values in an Excel column or table. To use this feature select the first blank cell below the data to be summed, then click on the Formulas tab, click AutoSum, then click Sum from the drop-down menu.
Adding values with the SUM function
The SUM function is used to add individual values, cell references, and ranges.
It follows the following syntax:
=SUM(number1,number2,number3,.......)
Adding values based on conditions
In excel a condition is an expression whereby a criterion is used to determine a default output of either a True or False and usually follows the format of IF, THEN, ELSE.
When adding values based on conditions two main functions are usually used:
SUMIF (used when only one criterion needs to be met)
SUMIFS (used when multiple criteria need to be met)
SUMIF
The SUMIF function follows the following syntax:
=SUMIF(range, criteria, [sum_range])
Range (Required): Describes the cells to be evaluated
Criteria (Required): A number, expression, cell reference, text, or a function that defines which cells should be added.
Sum_range (Optional): Only used when the range being evaluated is different from the range to be summed.
SUMIFS
The SUMIFS function follows the following syntax:
=SUMIFS(sum_range, criteria_range1,criteria1,criteria_range2,criteria2,.....)
Sum_Range (Required): Describes the cells to be added
Criteria Range (Required): The specific range of cells to be evaluated
Criteria (Required): A number, expression, cell reference, text, or a function that defines which cells should be added based on the corresponding criteria range being evaluated.
Note: Quotation marks should be used around text values being included as criteria (range and cell names are an exception to this rule).
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