Another AutoSum Tip

Suppose you want to sum data that is not directly above, left, right or below the cell where you want the results to be; here's a way to do it. For our example. let's say you have data in cells A1:C3, and want your calculation to be in cell D4. In the following example, with your active cell as D4, click on the AutoSum tool (the "Sigma" or Greek-looking "E"):



Notice that the cursor is blinking between two enclosing parenthesis. Excel is waiting for you to specify the range you want summed, either by typing in the cell range, or selecting it with your mouse pointer. We're going to select it with the mouse pointer.

Point your mouse to cell A1, then drag to the right and down to cell C3, so that it looks like this:



Note that Excel has recorded the cell range between the parenthesis, and also, note the animated dashed border around your selected range. Now all you have to do is press Enter on your keyboard, or click the green checkmark shown to the left of the Formula Bar. This is the result: