Microsoft Excel offers a convenient and easy to use function known as AutoSum. With AutoSum, Excel can automatically sum the numbers in a column with the simple click of a button. Let’s say you have a series of numbers in column A that appear like this:
To AutoSum these numbers you click the Auto Sum button.
It appears like this:
It is located in your toolbar. With the cursor selecting the cell below your column of figures, click the AutoSum Button.
When you click this button, Excel shows a blue marquee around the figures it is summing. Also, it displays the formula of the summation in the cell that will contain the added numbers. The formula =SUM(A1:A5) appears in this example. See the result below:
When you press your Enter key, the result is a summation of the figures in cell A6:
If we had a row of figures in column B as well that we wished to include in our AutoSum formula in cell A6, we could drag the marquee surrounding the figures in column A to include the figures in column B.
It would appear like this:
We would now press the Enter key to see the results of the summation. Our spreadsheet would appear like this:
AutoSum is a useful function that can sum any combination of numbers in your spreadsheet into any cell of your choice. Other tutorials will teach you how to select a group of numbers and remove certain ones.
Knowledge of how to use AutoSum in a column or row will make your Excel experience better (and often quicker) than before.
