Excel "=SUM" formula does not add up numbers correctly

Anonymous

I have an Excel formula issue in the formula not resulting in the correct sum, but it is not a rounding error; rather it is off by an entire cell amount. As an example, I was adding eight cells with the value of $3,001.53 which should have resulted in a total of $24,012.24, but instead I got $21,010.71 (off by one cell value). I triple-checked to make sure that the formula included all cell addresses I was trying to add, which it did. I tried deleting the formula and doing it over again, saving the spread sheet as different versions of Excel, putting the formula in a different cell location, all to no avail. There were other similar errors in the spread sheet. FYI, I am not adding concecutive cells, rather, selecting certain cells using Ctrl, left click.

I'm using Excel 2010 Version 14.1.6129.5000 (32-bit).

Please advise.

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43 answers

Anonymous

2018-01-13T17:57:34+00:00

Had this issue and was ready to punch a hole through my monitor. Auto Sum gave me an incorrect total, but if I added manually or manually put the cells into an addition formula they gave me the correct total. I luckily knew which range of cells were suspect, so I made sure to change their formatting from General to Numbers. However, this didn't change anything. I had to re-enter the numbers in the cells and only then did they work in the Auto Sum formula.

So I guess that even if you change a cells format it can decide not to change the format of what was in there previously?
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Anonymous

2017-11-08T22:34:28+00:00

I had this issue and tried many fixes. After wasting tons of time I decided to copy the whole table to a googledoc. I updated the formulas and it worked! I then saved the file as an excel file.
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Anonymous

2017-10-11T21:22:19+00:00

I had this problem too. Go to Options menu under the File Tab.

Under Excel options there should be one that says Formulas and under that/beside that Calculation Options and Workbook Calculation. Make sure Automatic is checked.

Wow! What a life saver. Thanks.
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Anonymous

2017-04-22T16:11:39+00:00

Hi,

We recommend that you try this article: SUM function. This link provides information and troubleshooting steps. If the link provided does not resolve the issue, we suggest that you try to open Office apps in safe mode on a Windows PC and check if the issue still persist.

Let us know how it goes.
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Anonymous

2017-04-21T19:36:34+00:00

<removed>

I have been using Excel for almost twenty years, as a construction estimator I use Excel daily and I depend on Excel for income. If Excel is not functioning correctly I lose income.

Using Excel 2016. This same error, where cells are SUM to zero instead of the actual sum occurred in Excel internally. I did nothing to cause it. It started when I noticed my SUM cell was not changing. I tried to fix the cell and now I get Zero. Tried new cells, new locations and the same failed results.

When selecting cell, the SUM in the lower right is correct. But the AutoSum still will not work. I have forty tabs with forty estimates and all their sums link to a summary tab. I can’t afford this. I don’t have the time; my bid is due. I require Excel to function correctly.

Have checked: Cells are formatted correctly, no hidden rows (bad idea with estimates), File>Options>Formulas>Workbook Calculation>Automatic was checked, and there is not tiny yellow diamond.

Microsoft needs to fix this.
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