Addition in Excel can be done in various different ways. And you may need to choose between one way or the other based on how you need these values calculated.
#1: Calculation within a Cell
Excel cell can also act as a calculator in itself. This means you can simply type an expression for adding values in a cell in Excel to yield the sum. All you need to do is click on any cell, type ‘=’. Now, enter the the numbers to be added and hit ‘Enter’. See example below:
The result will appear in the cell when you hit ‘Enter’
Excel understands the equals sign as a formula. This is when Excel calculates and computes data as required.
Now it is not to say that ‘=’ in Excel is always a formula. If you were to ever create a graphic presentation where you want the equal sign to display as is, it would have to be within double quotes like “=”. It is then that Excel wouldn’t compute anything and would consider this as a text expression.
#2: Creating a formula with a ‘+’ sign to add in Excel
Suppose you have two values in cells A1 & B1 and you want to add them and have the result in C1. Below is a step-by-step explanation on what you would do for using this method for addition in Excel.
Step 1 – Go the cell C1 and type ‘=’
Step 2 – Then click on cell A1. The formula created in cell C1 is visible as ‘=A1’
Step 3 – Then, type ‘+’. The formula you will see in C1 at this point will appear as ‘=A1+’
Step 4 – Then click on cell B1. Now you can see your full formula in cell C1 as ‘=A1+B1’
Step 5 – Hit enter and Excel will calculate the result (as shown in the screenshot below)
Alternatively, you can also simply type the formula with cell references of data and hit enter to see the result. The good thing about Excel is, as you type the cell references like A1 or B1, it will highlight those cells so you can see if you are referring to the correct cells in your formula.
Now if you wanted to have make this calculation standard across certain cells in column C, all you would need to do is drag this across the cells in Column C where you want to see this formula replicated and you can see the results below. To drag the formula, simply place your cursor over the bottom right corner of the formula cell as shown below, and drag it down.
Once you drag and leave this, the formula will replicate across all selected cells in column C as shown below.
#3: Using AutoSum for Quick Addition in Excel
AutoSum is a function in Excel which is denoted by the symbol ‘Ʃ’, present in the Home tab, as shown in the screenshot below. What this function does is that it auto-defines the formula for the sum of numbers in the selected cells.
To add values in a row or column using the AutoSum function, click on the cell where you want the calculation result and press the ‘Ʃ’ button. Excel automatically highlights the cells that it anticipates need to be added and the cells can simply be adjusted within the green borders to define your input cells.
#4: Highlight Cells and See the Addition Result
If you do not want to assign a cell formula that calculates sum for specific cell references but would like to know those values at a certain point, simply highlighting cells in a row can also show sum in the bottom bar of the cell.
This feature is for addition in Excel and can also display the sum and other parameters when specific cells are selected. For this, press the first cell that you want. Then, press ‘Ctrl’ and keep selecting the desired cells. The value computed will be at the bottom right of the screen, as shown in the below snippet.
#5: Addition in Excel Across Sheets
This part covers how to do addition in Excel workbook across different sheets.
Let’s say for example that you want to calculate the total expenses for a certain category in a year, and you want to pull data from different sheets for that.
#1: Click on the cell you want your final input on & enter ‘=’.
#2: Now at the bottom of the screen, click on the next sheet that contains the next cell.
#3: Now add ‘+’ to the formula and move on to the next sheet cell.
#4: Continue to select as many cells as needed and when done, press ‘Enter’. Excel will bring you back to the sheet where your formula originated, so you can see the final result there.
In the example below, we wanted the total car expenses for the months of January & February. You can see the formula in the formula bar. ‘Jan!B2’ (the car expense value cell in the Jan sheet) + ‘Feb!B2’ (the car expense value cell in the Feb sheet). The selected car expense value cell in the Total Expenses sheet will display the result.
Using these simple methods above, you can perform addition in Microsoft Excel in a variety of ways depending on the specific use-case your work or project demands.
