SUMIF Function: Introduction

What does it do?

Sums the values in a range that meet a criteria that you specify

Formula breakdown:

=SUMIF(Range or Cells, Criteria, [Sum_Range])

What it means:

=SUMIF(Evaluate this Range/Cells, With this Criteria, [Optional Sum Range])

The SUMIF function is used widely amongst spreadsheet users as it is a simple Excel function.  It allows you to Sum the values in a range that meet a criteria that you specify.

So if you want to Sum a range of sales values that are above $3,000 then this is the best Excel function to use, as I explain below.

We want to get the sum of the sales amounts that are above $3000.

STEP 1: We need to enter the SUMIF function in a blank cell:
=SUMIF(

STEP 2: The SUMIF arguments:

Range

What is your range that contains the source data?

Highlight the column that contains the sales data
=SUMIF(D15:D23,

Criteria

Which records do you want to sum together?

Since we want to sum the amounts greater than 3000, then let’s type in >3000
=SUMIF(D15:D23, ">3000")

Just like that, Excel has selectively found the values and summed them together!

John Michaloudis

Founder & Chief Inspirational Officer

at

MyExcelOnline.com

John Michaloudis is a former accountant and finance analyst at General Electric, a Microsoft MVP since 2020, an Amazon #1 bestselling author of 4 Microsoft Excel books and teacher of Microsoft Excel & Office over at his flagship MyExcelOnline Academy Online Course.