SUMIF Function (Table of Contents)
SUMIF Function in Excel
In excel, we all deal with formulas. In fact, excel is all about formulas and techniques. Like many other functions in excel, SUMIF is one of the Math & Trigonometry functions in excel.
SUMIF means “SUM certain row or column if the given condition or criteria is true or satisfied”.
In SUMIF, we can SUM certain cells or groups of cells only based on one criterion. SUMIF is available under the Formula bar and under Math & Trigonometry bar.
SUMIF Formula in Excel
The Formula for the SUMIF Function is as follows:
- Range: The column, which includes criteria values.
- Criteria: What is the one thing you need to SUM based on the
- SUM_RANGE: The cells or range of cells that you want to SUM. For Example, A1: A20 range.
How to Use the SUMIF Function in Excel?
This SUMIF is very simple easy to use. Let us now see how to use the SUMIF Function with the help of some examples.
Example #1
From the below table, calculate the total sales amount for the country Mexico.
We have a sales table from A1: F19. Out of this data, we need to calculate the total sales for the country of Mexico.
Below we have applied the SUMIF formula cell A22 to get the total sales for the country Mexico.
The SUMIF function returns the total sales for country MEXICO as 376110
The formula we used here is
Part 1: This is our Criteria Range part, our criterion is to sum the total sales for country Mexico, and this is in the range B2:B19.
Part 2: This is our Criteria. From our Criteria Range, we need to give Criteria as “Mexico”.
Part 3: This is our SUM column; we need to do the summation. Here are the sales range is from F2:F19.
Example #2
Take the same example from the above but calculate the total sales for each country.
Apply the below formula to get the total gross sales.
The SUMIF function returns the total sales for each Country.
This is very similar to our previous formula, but there are very minor changes we made.
Part 1: This is our Criteria Range part, our criterion is to sum the total sales for country Mexico, and this is in the range B2: B19. We locked the range using dollar symbols here. Because; our Criteria Range must be standard for all the countries.
Part 2: This is our Criteria. We have given a cell reference from our Criteria Range instead of typing each country name manually. Here we have not locked the cell because the country cell needs to change when we copy-paste the paste formula to the below cells. That means H2 should change to H3 when copied down the formula and so on.
Part 3: This is our SUM column; we need to do the summation. Here is the sales range is from F2: F19. This is also locked because; our Criteria Range must be standard for all the countries.
Example #3
Now we know how this formula works. Next, we will move on to the advanced level of this formula. SUMIF can calculate the values based on wildcard characters.
From the above table, calculate the sales amount for Thomas. However, they have not mentioned whether it is Sitara Thomas or Abhishek Thomas. Therefore, wherever we find Thomas, we need to SUM it.
In these kinds of scenarios, we need to use wildcard entries. Commonly used wildcards are an asterisk ( *) and question mark (?)
Apply the below formula to get the total sales for Thomas.
The SUMIF function returns the total sales for Thomas as 6561.
Now, look at the formula in the criteria syntax; we placed the value “*Thomas*” instead of just “Thomas”. Here asterisk is the wildcard character. Here, the asterisk looks for a particular character in the sentence.
Therefore, in Sitara Thomas and Abhishek Thomas’s case, asterisk treats both as one and does the summation of sales amount for both the sales manager.
Example #4
In the SUMIF function, we can add the two different criteria’s in a single criteria range. From the below data, calculate the total sales value for the countries France & Canada.
Here we need to apply the same formula, but we need to make little changes and apply some techniques when we are giving criteria.
Firstly, we added the SUM function before adding SUMIFS. We added SUM before the main function is we are giving two criteria in a single formula.
- SUMIF’s first parameter is Criteria Range, i.e. “B2: B19”.
- The second parameter is we need to specify which countries we are doing the summation. However, since we are giving multiple criteria first, we need to enter curly brackets {} to include our criteria.
- Inside the curly brackets {} we need to specify our two country names in double quotes.
- The last part is our sum range, i.e. “F2:F19”.
Firstly SUMIF calculates the sales for the country France (70,650), and secondly calculates the sales for the country Canada (4,53,964).
Once the SUMIF returns the total sales for the two countries, the SUM function will simply add both the country’s sales together (70,650 + 4, 53, 964 = 5, 24, 613.5).
Example #5
Use the same table from the above example and calculate a total sale if the unit sold is greater than or equal to 2000.
Apply the same logic which we have used in example 1 but instead of selecting the country range and giving a country name as the criteria, select the unit sold column as range and give the criteria as “>=2000”.
The SUMIF returns the total sales if the unit sold is >=2000 as 48195.5.
Things to Remember about SUMIF Function
- SUMIF can be applied only to single column criteria. It can satisfy only one-column criteria.
- An error of #Valuewill occurs if the ranges of criteria range and sum range are not of the same range.
- If you want to use multiple criteria’s, then use the SUMIFS function.
- Numeric values in the criteria parameter need not be enclosed with double quotes. But in the case of numeric and text, you need to enclose in double quotes “>=2000”, “<=25”, “=555” etc…
- Wildcards are used to match the part of the name or part of the sentence. An asterisk denotes series of characters, and question marks denote any single character of the supplied criteria.
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This has been a guide to SUMIF Function. Here we discuss the SUMIF Formula and how to use SUMIF Function along with excel examples and downloadable excel templates. You may also look at these useful functions in excel –
