Excel: Adding columns of numbers

[Myrna_Goldstein]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hello, With my old Excel program, I just had to click on the Sigma (sum) sign and everything added. With the new Office 2008, adding numbers has become very complicated, in fact, impossible. A blue frame is supposed to form around the numbers list, then after pressing return, it should all add up. It doesn't. I'm left with an error message and ()C5 something in the middle between C5 and C9, e.g. So, today after wasting more than an hour trying to just add a simple column, I reverted to my calculator. Can anyone help? Hope so!

Thanks to Bob Jones for answering my previous question. Will try it, Bob.

Cordially yours,

Myrna Goldstein

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hello, With my old Excel program, I just had to click on the Sigma (sum) sign
and everything added. With the new Office 2008, adding numbers has become
very complicated, in fact, impossible. A blue frame is supposed to form
around the numbers list, then after pressing return, it should all add up. It
doesn't. I'm left with an error message and ()C5 something in the middle
between C5 and C9, e.g. So, today after wasting more than an hour trying to
just add a simple column, I reverted to my calculator. Can anyone help? Hope
so!

XL's autosum function tries to guess the formula to use based on the
contents of the cells adjacent to selected cell(s), so without knowing
exactly what was in those cells, it's hard to tell what's different (I
haven't noticed any difference between XL04's autosum and XL08's
autosum, but then I almost never use either of them).

Regardless, it would seem to be trivial to hand-enter the function you
want:

=SUM(C5:C9)

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Myrna -

As John replied I see no difference in the working of Auto Sum in Excel 2008
compared to any other version. What I'm wondering about is your reference to
2008 being "new"... Since the version was released more than a year ago are
you implying that it's new to *you*? If it's a recent acquisition it may be
that you haven't yet updated since it was installed. If that's the case it
may very well explain why you're having a problem. It should be at 12.1.5 in
order to be current.

Go to Excel's Help menu & select Check For Updates. Regardless of whether
any need to be applied run Apple's Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions,
then launch Excel to see if things are better.

If not, give a better description of the result of using the feature - "()C5
something" isn't very clear

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Myrna_Goldstein]

Hi Guys,
The ##@§^$!## program doesn't work.
Here's what I did:
1. clicked on the space under the last number in the column to be added.
2. clicked sigma (autosum)
3. =SUM(F2:F4)
4. Then I hit return. I got a blank space with a dollar sign and a hyphen: $ - . Certainly not the sum of 23.84, 3.28 and 29.45. These are just regular simple numbers.

On my old Mac (G3, 1st version ever out), I NEVER set up Excel to add. I would just highlight the numbers in the list as well as the empty space following the last number, hit sigma (autosum) and the result was instant. I never had to do =SUM(F2:F4).

BACK TO THE ABACUS!!! glug glug. Could you kindly help? What am I supposed to do after I type in =SUM(F2:F4)????

####@][**§ç-à#!

Myrna

 

[CyberTaz]

Yes, Myrna, the program - and that feature - *do* work There must be
some specific reason why it isn't working for you.

The result you've described suggests that (a) the cell in which you're
summing has been formatted using a Currency Style & (b) that the "numbers"
you're attempting to have summed have in fact been entered as text
characters. IOW, the feature is seeing no actual values in the range. What
happens if you actually write the SUM function in that cell yourself rather
than using AutoSum - same result?

Where did the numbers come from?... Did you actually type them into the
cells or was the content pasted from another source? How are the cells
containing the numbers formatted? Was that part of the sheet used previously
for something else? What happens if you go to another sheet, type in a
column of figures, then use the AutoSum there?

If this is a recently acquired Mac or if Office was recently installed on it
has Office been updated? The current version is 12.1.5 & if you're not at
that level strange things can happen. Check Excel> About Excel for your
current update level & if it isn't 12.1.5 run Check For Updates from the
Help menu in order to get updated [obviously an internet connection is
required]. Also - whether updates are needed or not - run Disk Utility -
Repair Disk Permissions & restart afterwards.

If that doesn't rectify it post back with your results for additional
troubleshooting steps.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac