AutoSum and Quick Calculations
Use the AutoSum shortcut to total columns and rows without typing the full formula.
Let the Sheet Write the Formula
You now know how to type SUM and AVERAGE by hand. But spreadsheets offer an even faster way for the most common task: AutoSum.
AutoSum is a button that guesses the range you want to total and writes the =SUM(...) formula for you. One click and your column or row is added up.
In this lesson you will learn AutoSum and a few other quick-calculation shortcuts.
Finding the AutoSum Button
In Microsoft Excel, AutoSum lives on the Home tab and again on the Formulas tab. Its icon is the Greek letter sigma, which looks like a stretched E.
Click the cell where you want the total to appear, then click AutoSum. Excel highlights the numbers above or to the left and inserts a SUM formula.
Press Enter to accept it.
=SUM(B2:B10)All lessons in this course
- Totaling Numbers With SUM
- Finding the Mean With AVERAGE
- Mixing Ranges and Single Cells in SUM
- AutoSum and Quick Calculations