Microsoft Office Tutorials: Sumifs function

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Sumifs function

The SUMIFS function, one of the math and trig functions, adds all of its arguments that meet multiple criteria. For example, you would use SUMIFS to sum the number of retailers in the country who (1) reside in a single zip code and (2) whose profits exceed a specific dollar value.

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This video is part of a training course called Advanced IF functions.

Syntax

SUMIFS(sum_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2], ...)

=SUMIFS(A2:A9,B2:B9,"=A*",C2:C9,"Tom")
=SUMIFS(A2:A9,B2:B9,"<>Bananas",C2:C9,"Tom")

Argument name	Description
Sum_range (required)	The range of cells to sum.
Criteria_range1 (required)	The range that is tested using *Criteria1. Criteria_range1* and Criteria1 set up a search pair whereby a range is searched for specific criteria. Once items in the range are found, their corresponding values in *Sum_range* are added.
Criteria1 (required)	The criteria that defines which cells in *Criteria_range1* will be added. For example, criteria can be entered as 32, ">32", B4, "apples", or "32".
Criteria_range2, criteria2, … (optional)	Additional ranges and their associated criteria. You can enter up to 127 range/criteria pairs.

Examples

To use these examples in Excel, drag to select the data in the table, right-click the selection, and pick Copy. In a new worksheet, right-click cell A1 and pick Match Destination Formatting under Paste Options.

Quantity Sold	Product	Salesperson
5	Apples	Tom
4	Apples	Sarah
15	Artichokes	Tom
3	Artichokes	Sarah
22	Bananas	Tom
12	Bananas	Sarah
10	Carrots	Tom
33	Carrots	Sarah
Formula	Description
=SUMIFS(A2:A9, B2:B9, "=A*", C2:C9, "Tom")	Adds the number of products that begin with A and were sold by Tom. It uses the wildcard character * in *Criteria1, "=A" to look for matching product names in Criteria_range1 B2:B9, and looks for the name "Tom" in Criteria_range2 C2:C9. It then adds the numbers in Sum_range** A2:A9 that meet both conditions. The result is 20.
=SUMIFS(A2:A9, B2:B9, "<>Bananas", C2:C9, "Tom")	Adds the number of products that aren't bananas and are sold by Tom. It excludes bananas by using <> in the *Criteria1, "<>Bananas", and looks for the name "Tom"* in *Criteria_range2* C2:C9. It then adds the numbers in *Sum_range* A2:A9 that meet both conditions. The result is 30.

Common Problems

Problem	Description
0 (Zero) is shown instead of the expected result.	Make sure *Criteria1,2* are in quotation marks if you are testing for text values, like a person's name.
The result is incorrect when *Sum_range* has TRUE or FALSE values.	TRUE and FALSE values for *Sum_range* are evaluated differently, which may cause unexpected results when they're added. Cells in *Sum_range* that contain TRUE evaluate to 1. Those that contain FALSE evaluate to 0 (zero).

Problem

Description

0 (Zero) is shown instead of the expected result.

Make sure Criteria1,2 are in quotation marks if you are testing for text values, like a person's name.

The result is incorrect when Sum_range has TRUE or FALSE values.

TRUE and FALSE values for Sum_range are evaluated differently, which may cause unexpected results when they're added.

Cells in Sum_range that contain TRUE evaluate to 1. Those that contain FALSE evaluate to 0 (zero).

Best practices

Do this	Description
Use wildcard characters.	Using wildcard characters like the question mark (?) and asterisk () in criteria1,2* can help you find matches that are similar but not exact. A question mark matches any single character. An asterisk matches any sequence of characters. If you want to find an actual question mark or asterisk, type a tilde (~) in front of the question mark. For example, =SUMIFS(A2:A9, B2:B9, "=A*", C2:C9, "To?") will add all instances with name that begin with "To" and ends with a last letter that could vary.
Understand the difference between SUMIF and SUMIFS.	The order of arguments differ between SUMIFS and SUMIF. In particular, the *sum_range* argument is the first argument in SUMIFS, but it is the third argument in SUMIF. This is a common source of problems using these functions. If you're copying and editing these similar functions, make sure you put the arguments in the correct order.
Use the same number of rows and columns for range arguments.	The *Criteria_range* argument must contain the same number of rows and columns as the *Sum_range* argument.

Do this

Description

Use wildcard characters.

Using wildcard characters like the question mark (?) and asterisk (*) in criteria1,2 can help you find matches that are similar but not exact.

A question mark matches any single character. An asterisk matches any sequence of characters. If you want to find an actual question mark or asterisk, type a tilde (~) in front of the question mark.

For example, =SUMIFS(A2:A9, B2:B9, "=A*", C2:C9, "To?") will add all instances with name that begin with "To" and ends with a last letter that could vary.

Understand the difference between SUMIF and SUMIFS.

The order of arguments differ between SUMIFS and SUMIF. In particular, the sum_range argument is the first argument in SUMIFS, but it is the third argument in SUMIF. This is a common source of problems using these functions.

If you're copying and editing these similar functions, make sure you put the arguments in the correct order.

Use the same number of rows and columns for range arguments.

The Criteria_range argument must contain the same number of rows and columns as the Sum_range argument.

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