series of sums in a long spreadsheet

[Sara]

I am trying to create a series of sums for a rather long spreadsheet with
mulitple variables. I have several rows on my spread sheet, each categorized
in genres such as "apple", "orange", and "pear." There is also a numerical
value in a separate column for each of my rows that I want to associate with
the categories I mentioned. I want to be able to get the total sum of each
category. It is a very long spreadsheet, and it is not sorted by these
categories because there are other variables involved. Because the
spreadsheet is so long, I don't just want to create a sum formula with each
individual cell selected. Also, I sometimes add and subtract rows, so that
solution would not hold up. Is there a way to associate the numerical value
with the category within a row and then somehow get the sum of each similar
category for the entire spreadsheet. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for your
help.

apple 5
orange 6
pear 10
apple 3
orange 11
pear 4

sum of apple
sum of orange
sum of pear

 

[Gord Dibben]

Data>SubTotal will do what you want.

Subtotal on unique items in your list of fruit.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP