SUMIFS function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
What is SUMIFS function in Excel?
SUMIFS function is one of the Math and Trig functions in Microsoft Excel that adds all of its arguments that meet multiple criteria. For example, you would use SUMIFS to sum the number of retailers in the country who (1) reside in a single zip code and (2) whose profits exceed a specific dollar value.
Syntax of SUMIFS function
SUMIFS(sum_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2], …)
- =SUMIFS(A2:A9,B2:B9,”=A*”,C2:C9,”Tom”)
- =SUMIFS(A2:A9,B2:B9,”<>Bananas”,C2:C9,”Tom”)
| Argument name | Description |
| Sum_range (required) | The range of cells to sum. |
| Criteria_range1 (required) | The range that is tested using Criteria1. Criteria_range1 and Criteria1 set up a search pair whereby a range is searched for specific criteria. Once items in the range are found, their corresponding values in Sum_range are added. |
| Criteria1 (required) | The criteria that defines which cells in Criteria_range1 will be added. For example, criteria can be entered as 32, “>32”, B4, “apples”, or “32”. |
| Criteria_range2, criteria2, … (optional) | Additional ranges and their associated criteria. You can enter up to 127 range/criteria pairs. |
Examples of SUMIFS function
To use these examples in Excel, drag to select the data in the table, right-click the selection, and pick Copy. In a new worksheet, right-click cell A1 and pick Match Destination Formatting under Paste Options.
| Quantity Sold | Product | Salesperson |
| 5 | Apples | Tom |
| 4 | Apples | Sarah |
| 15 | Artichokes | Tom |
| 3 | Artichokes | Sarah |
| 22 | Bananas | Tom |
| 12 | Bananas | Sarah |
| 10 | Carrots | Tom |
| 33 | Carrots | Sarah |
| Formula | Description | |
| =SUMIFS(A2:A9, B2:B9, “=A*”, C2:C9, “Tom”) | Adds the number of products that begin with A and were sold by Tom. It uses the wildcard character * in Criteria1, “=A*” to look for matching product names in Criterial_range1 B2:B9, and looks for the name “Tom” in Criterial_range2 C2:C9. It then adds the numbers in Sum_range A2:A9 that meet both conditions. The result is 20. | |
| =SUMIFS(A2:A9, B2:B9, “<>Bananas”, C2:C9, “Tom”) | Adds the number of products that aren’t bananas and are sold by Tom. It excludes bananas by using <> in the Criteria1, “<>Bananas”, and looks for the name “Tom” in Criterial_range2 C2:C9. It then adds the numbers in Sum_range A2:A9 that meet both conditions. The result is 30. |
Best practices
| Do this | Description |
| Use wildcard characters. | Using wildcard characters like the question mark (?) and asterisk (*) in criteria1,2can help you find matches that are similar but not exact.
A question mark matches any single character. An asterisk matches any sequence of characters. If you want to find an actual question mark or asterisk, type a tilde (~) in front of the question mark. For example, =SUMIFS(A2:A9, B2:B9, “=A*”, C2:C9, “To?”) will add all instances with name that begin with “To” and ends with a last letter that could vary. |
| Understand the difference between SUMIF and SUMIFS. | The order of arguments differ between SUMIFS and SUMIF. In particular, the sum_range argument is the first argument in SUMIFS, but it is the third argument in SUMIF. This is a common source of problems using these functions. If you’re copying and editing these similar functions, make sure you put the arguments in the correct order. |
| Use the same number of rows and columns for range arguments. | The Criteria_range argument must contain the same number of rows and columns as the Sum_range argument. |
Common Problems
| Problem | Description |
| 0 (Zero) is shown instead of the expected result. | Make sure Criteria1,2 are in quotation marks if you are testing for text values, like a person’s name. |
| The result is incorrect when Sum_range has TRUE or FALSE values. | TRUE and FALSE values for Sum_range are evaluated differently, which may cause unexpected results when they’re added.
Cells in Sum_range that contain TRUE evaluate to 1. Those that contain FALSE evaluate to 0 (zero). |