How can I add values only if "x" is present?

Question

I'm working on adding a collection of board games to our library.

I have a spreadsheet that lists more games than I intend to buy, but have them there to investigate. I have the prices for a couple of websites listed beside each game.

The problem is that I want a sum that doesn't include every game on the list. Instead, I want to add a column at the front that if I put an "X" indicating this is a game to get, then I want it to add the value for that. Only the values for rows that start with an "X" in column A will in added together, instead of everything.

I was hoping to do this with a formula instead of just choosing a basic =SUM formula and selecting only a few cells at a time. I assume a =SUMIF might be the answer, but I have yet to figure out how to get this to work.

Answer 1

Please try:

=SUMIF(A:A,"x",B:B)  

where B:B is the column with the values. I suspect your difficulty may have been that when using text as the 'trigger' it needs to be in double inverted commas.

Or you might sort by ColumnA and just use =SUM as far down as there are xs.

Or filter on ColumnA to select x and Autosum ColumnB but change the 9 to 109.

Answer 2

SUMIF requires at least 2 parameters, and at most 3. In your case, you will need to use 3.

If you type the formula in excel, you will see a little balloon indicating:

=SUMIF(Range, Criteria, [Sum_Range])

Range is the range where you want to apply the condition, in your case, A:A.

Criteria is the condition applied to the range, in your case "x".

[Sum_Range] is the range to sum, after applying the condition.

The above will sum all the cells in the range [Sum_Range], for which the cells of Range satisfies the condition Criteria.

Translating that into an actual formula, you get pnut's formula:

=SUMIF(A:A,"x",B:B)

The above will sum all the cells in the range B:B, for which the cells of A:A satisfies the condition x (SUMIF considers the criterion as being 'equal' so it will sum only when they are equal to the criteria).

---

As an extra, you can change the condition to mean 'not equal' by using something like this: =SUMIF(A:A,"<>x",B:B) (the <> means not equal to in Excel).