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Why you should stop using SUMIF

Everyone knows SUM. After all, it was almost certainly the first function you learnt in Excel.

While it's useful for calculating a whole column of numeric values, that isn't always what you want.

A frequent task is to total up a column based on one or more conditions, and there are two functions for this: SUMIF and SUMIFS.

Syntaxes

=๐š‚๐š„๐™ผ๐™ธ๐™ต(๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ,๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐š’๐šŠ,[๐šœ๐šž๐š–_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ])
=๐š‚๐š„๐™ผ๐™ธ๐™ต๐š‚(๐šœ๐šž๐š–_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ,๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐š’๐šŠ_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ,๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐š’๐šŠ,...)

@globalexcelsummit ๐˜Œ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ knows SUM. After all, it was almost certainly the first function you learnt in Excel. While it's useful for calculating a whole column of numeric values, that isn't always what you want. A frequent task is to total up a column based on one or more conditions, and there are two functions for this: SUMIF and SUMIFS. ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜…๐—ฒ๐˜€ =๐š‚๐š„๐™ผ๐™ธ๐™ต(๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ,๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐š’๐šŠ,[๐šœ๐šž๐š–_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ]) =๐š‚๐š„๐™ผ๐™ธ๐™ต๐š‚(๐šœ๐šž๐š–_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ,๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐š’๐šŠ_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ,๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐š’๐šŠ,...) In the video example, a table called tblSales houses some sales data. SUMIF is used to sum the Sales rows where the corresponding values in the Region column are equal to 'North'. However, it's then decided an additional criterion is needed to only consider Month rows equal to 'Mar'. This is where SUMIFS comes in. The only fundamental difference is SUMIF handles a single criterion, whereas SUMIFS can deal with multiple criteria. However, it can cause confusion because the ๐šœ๐šž๐š–_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ argument comes last in SUMIF but first in SUMIFS. Why? SUMIFS appeared in Excel 2007 as an alternative to SUMIF. As SUMIFS was made to support up to 127 criteria, it probably didn't make much sense to put ๐šœ๐šž๐š–_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ last, hence the position change. Is it time SUMIF was removed? Oh, and COUNTIF, for that matter. Tell us in the comments! #exceleration #excel #microsoftexcel #excelformulas #exceltips #globalexcelsummit โ™ฌ original sound - globalexcelsummit

In the video example, a table called tblSales houses some sales data. SUMIF is used to sum the Sales rows where the corresponding values in the Region column are equal to 'North'.

However, it's then decided an additional criterion is needed to only consider Month rows equal to 'Mar'.

This is where SUMIFS comes in. The only fundamental difference is SUMIF handles a single criterion, whereas SUMIFS can deal with multiple criteria.

However, it can cause confusion because the ๐šœ๐šž๐š–_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ argument comes last in SUMIF but first in SUMIFS.

Why?

SUMIFS appeared in Excel 2007 as an alternative to SUMIF. As SUMIFS was made to support up to 127 criteria, it probably didn't make much sense to put ๐šœ๐šž๐š–_๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ last, hence the position change.

Is it time SUMIF was removed? Oh, and COUNTIF, for that matter. Let us know!

Andrew Moss
About the Author

Andrew Moss

Andrew is a technical writer who specialises in Microsoft Excel and data analysis. He has published hundreds of articles and social media posts aimed at helping people enhance their skills and spreading good practices.

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