Totaling values in a column WITHOUT a formula in Word 2004

  • Thread starter Ramón G Castañeda
  • Start date
R

Ramón G Castañeda

In previous versions of MS Word (under Mac 9.x and prior), It was a simple
matter of highlighting a whole column in a table, hitting a command (Command
=, I believe) or clicking on the Calculate icon and the total would be
instantly copied to the clipboard as well as being shown in the lower left
hand corner of the window.

I¹m now looking for the same functionality in Word 2004.

This is a form over the design of which I have zero control and which I¹m
not at liberty to change in the slightest fashion. It¹s a quarterly report
(which goes to Uncle Sam in Washington DC) on a single page, containing two
sets of columns because the list of items breaks in the middle, one column
has integers representing number of events, the other one dollar amounts.

There is no available cell where I could insert a formula, and the totals
need to be only at the end of the two columns on the right-hand side of the
page, not the first two columns on the left. In Word 98, for instance, I
would highlight the column, hit the total command, paste the result in any
of the empty cells in the third column, highlight that third column, total
it again, and paste the grand total at the very end. Then I would delete
the pasted subtotal from the first column, and everything would be done.

I¹ve looked in the help files and the MS Office assistant won¹t find the old
total command. All I get is this instruction of placing a formula in the
cell where I want the total to appear, which is no help at all.

As I said, I¹m not at liberty to insert ANY formulas, nor are there
available cells to do that anyway. I cannot change the design or layout of
the table in any way.

My workaround has been to copy the columns into Excel and perform the
calculations there (Insert Function), copy the result to the clipboard and
then take it into Word again. I would love to have the old simplicity back
without having to use Excel at all. It only happens once per quarter, after
all.

Any guidance will be much appreciated.
 
R

Ramón G Castañeda

I should also mention that many of the cells in those columns are EMPTY, and
I am not allowed to write zeros in them. Word 2004¹s formulas cannot add
columns containing empty cells either. Bummer.
 
J

JE McGimpsey

Ramón G Castañeda said:
In previous versions of MS Word (under Mac 9.x and prior), It was a simple
matter of highlighting a whole column in a table, hitting a command (Command
=, I believe) or clicking on the Calculate icon and the total would be
instantly copied to the clipboard as well as being shown in the lower left
hand corner of the window.

I¹m now looking for the same functionality in Word 2004.

The command is ToolsCalculate, and you can drag it to a toolbar or menu
(Tools/Customize/Customize Toolbars/Menus), or assign a keyboard
shortcut if you wish.
 
R

Ramón G Castañeda

The command is ToolsCalculate, and you can drag it to a toolbar or menu
(Tools/Customize/Customize Toolbars/Menus), or assign a keyboard
shortcut if you wish.


Thank you very much!
 
R

Ramón G Castañeda

The command is ToolsCalculate, and you can drag it to a toolbar or menu
(Tools/Customize/Customize Toolbars/Menus), or assign a keyboard
shortcut if you wish.


Thanks again. It would be good if the powers that be incorporated this into
the Help files so the MS Office assistant can find it when you type in
"calculate". Right now, that search yields ONLY "Field type options in a
text form field". ToolsCalculate does NOT come up. That's a major
omission.
 

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