DRAFTING A FORMULA

Question

DRAFTING A FORMULA

Charles Braught 0

SAMPLE FORMULA FOR EXCEL. ADD AMOUNTS IN ONE CELL BASED ON THE CONTENTS OF ANOTHER FIELD ON THE SAME ROW

Barry Schwarz 6,106 Reputation points

2026-08-12T22:27:20.6833333+00:00

You need to be more specific. You apparently want one cell to contain a sum. How does this other field determine the values to be added? Are the values somehow embedded in this field ("1,2,3")? Does the field somehow point to the values to be added (use cells A1-A4)? Does the field contain a code that selects a set of values (if a, then add 1+2+3, if b then add 4+5+6)? Give us enough data to help you.

2 answers

Your answer

Barry Schwarz 6,106 Reputation points

2026-08-12T22:27:20.6833333+00:00

You need to be more specific. You apparently want one cell to contain a sum. How does this other field determine the values to be added? Are the values somehow embedded in this field ("1,2,3")? Does the field somehow point to the values to be added (use cells A1-A4)? Does the field contain a code that selects a set of values (if a, then add 1+2+3, if b then add 4+5+6)? Give us enough data to help you.

Answer 1

Hi Charles,

Regarding your concern, there are a lot of approaches to achieve your goal, depending on your worksheet structure. You can use XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP from the forum's AI-suggested answer, or you can use SUMIF/SUMIFS. For example, I have this data table:

Category (col A)	Amount (col B)
Food	25
Travel	40
Food	15
Office	30

If I want to add all amounts in Column B where Column A says "Food", I will use this formula =SUMIF(A:A,"Food",B:B) and I will get the result 40.

That said, for the best possible assistance, please share some sample data or a screenshot of your current worksheet structure and your expected outcome so I can clearly understand your situation and provide better guidance.

Please understand that my initial reply may not always immediately resolve the issue. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Hope to hear from you soon.

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Hendrix 1,005 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-14T01:04:34.2733333+00:00

Good day Charles,

Have you reviewed the provided answer? Please let me know if there are any updates.

Answer 2

If the goal is to return an amount from one cell based on the value in another field on the same row, a lookup formula is the usual pattern.

Example:

=C2*XLOOKUP(TRUE,$A$2:$A$5,$B$2:$B$5)

What it does:

Looks in A2:A5 for TRUE
Returns the matching value from B2:B5 on the same row
Multiplies that returned value by C2

If only a simple same-row calculation is needed, Excel formulas start with = and can use cell references directly, for example:

=A2+B2

or

=H2+4

For totals across cells or ranges, a function such as SUM can be used, for example:

=SUM(A1:A2)

References: