I posted the question below improperly by replying on another thread and was asked to post a new thread. I already got the answer to my question from a friend, so I'm using this new post to share the solution. My original question was:

Re: Sumifs using cell reference in criteria

I have a problem similar to the one in this thread (that I replied on); I'd like to point to the text contents of a cell to use as criteria in my Sumifs function. My formula currently looks like this:

=SUMIFS(Data!B:B,Data!A:A,"*CIP-168*")

I want to pick up all cells in my criteria range with the text "CIP-168" in them, but I don't want to have to type it in my Sumifs formula, I want to reference cell B37 with the text "CIP-168" in it. I appreciate any help, thank you!

The solution: =SUMIFS(Data!B:B,Data!A:A,"*"&B37&"*")

Hope it's helpful!