SUM

When I try to sum up a partial column that has blank cells, Excel locks up.
I then have to 'End Task' I have been using CTRL to select the cells that I
want to add. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks, Eileen

By itself, that shouldnt really make Excel lock up. Is it a particularly large list of numbers.

Unfortunately, you'll need to give a little more info about the sheet your using.
1,000's of numbers, a lot of formulae elsewhere etc ???

Hi Eileen

you didn't say how many cell blocks you were selecting - is there any chance
that you're selecting more than 30 as this could cause a problem.
--
Cheers
JulieD
check out www.hcts.net.au/tipsandtricks.htm
....well i'm working on it anyway
"Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:%23HJoyz%23OFHA.1176@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> When I try to sum up a partial column that has blank cells, Excel locks
> up.
> I then have to 'End Task' I have been using CTRL to select the cells that
> I
> want to add. What am I doing wrong?
> Thanks, Eileen
>
>

I just counted them... 29 cells but there were a lot of empty cells that I
didn't use because of using the Ctrl key. If I had used the Shift
(highlighting all cells from 222 to 287) there would have been 65.
Thanks, Eileen

"JulieD" <JulieD@hctsReMoVeThIs.net.au> wrote in message
news:%23N8PU1FPFHA.1088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Hi Eileen
>
> you didn't say how many cell blocks you were selecting - is there any
chance
> that you're selecting more than 30 as this could cause a problem.
> --
> Cheers
> JulieD
> check out www.hcts.net.au/tipsandtricks.htm
> ...well i'm working on it anyway
> "Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> news:%23HJoyz%23OFHA.1176@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > When I try to sum up a partial column that has blank cells, Excel locks
> > up.
> > I then have to 'End Task' I have been using CTRL to select the cells
that
> > I
> > want to add. What am I doing wrong?
> > Thanks, Eileen
> >
> >
>
>

Hi Eileen

if you use the SHIFT key then they're counted as one parameter ... what the
issue is here is that the syntax of the SUM function is
SUM(number1,number2, ...)

where Number1, number2, ... are 1 to 30 arguments for which you want the
total value or sum.

so,
=SUM(A222:A230)
is only couned as one arguement, whereas
=SUM(A222,A223,A224,A226,A229,A230)
is counted as 6

so coming back to your original problem, you should be able to select up to
30 arguments when using the SUM function without problems, unless you're
exceeding the maximum number of characters allowed in a function (which is
1024 characters)

so let's try something else ... select the 29 cells you want to add using
the control key and click in the name box (little box to left of formula
bar), type a name (e.g. CCells) and press Enter
now in a cell type
=SUM(CCells)
and see if that works.
--
Cheers
JulieD
check out www.hcts.net.au/tipsandtricks.htm
....well i'm working on it anyway
"Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:emYZEdKPFHA.3668@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>I just counted them... 29 cells but there were a lot of empty cells that I
> didn't use because of using the Ctrl key. If I had used the Shift
> (highlighting all cells from 222 to 287) there would have been 65.
> Thanks, Eileen
>
> "JulieD" <JulieD@hctsReMoVeThIs.net.au> wrote in message
> news:%23N8PU1FPFHA.1088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> Hi Eileen
>>
>> you didn't say how many cell blocks you were selecting - is there any
> chance
>> that you're selecting more than 30 as this could cause a problem.
>> --
>> Cheers
>> JulieD
>> check out www.hcts.net.au/tipsandtricks.htm
>> ...well i'm working on it anyway
>> "Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:%23HJoyz%23OFHA.1176@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> > When I try to sum up a partial column that has blank cells, Excel locks
>> > up.
>> > I then have to 'End Task' I have been using CTRL to select the cells
> that
>> > I
>> > want to add. What am I doing wrong?
>> > Thanks, Eileen
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>

Julie,
That didn't bring up a sum... what came up in the cell was "#NAME?".
Eileen

"JulieD" <JulieD@hctsReMoVeThIs.net.au> wrote in message
news:u8Cqd9MPFHA.1884@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Hi Eileen
>
> if you use the SHIFT key then they're counted as one parameter ... what
the
> issue is here is that the syntax of the SUM function is
> SUM(number1,number2, ...)
>
> where Number1, number2, ... are 1 to 30 arguments for which you want
the
> total value or sum.
>
> so,
> =SUM(A222:A230)
> is only couned as one arguement, whereas
> =SUM(A222,A223,A224,A226,A229,A230)
> is counted as 6
>
> so coming back to your original problem, you should be able to select up
to
> 30 arguments when using the SUM function without problems, unless you're
> exceeding the maximum number of characters allowed in a function (which is
> 1024 characters)
>
> so let's try something else ... select the 29 cells you want to add using
> the control key and click in the name box (little box to left of formula
> bar), type a name (e.g. CCells) and press Enter
> now in a cell type
> =SUM(CCells)
> and see if that works.
> --
> Cheers
> JulieD
> check out www.hcts.net.au/tipsandtricks.htm
> ...well i'm working on it anyway
> "Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> news:emYZEdKPFHA.3668@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> >I just counted them... 29 cells but there were a lot of empty cells that
I
> > didn't use because of using the Ctrl key. If I had used the Shift
> > (highlighting all cells from 222 to 287) there would have been 65.
> > Thanks, Eileen
> >
> > "JulieD" <JulieD@hctsReMoVeThIs.net.au> wrote in message
> > news:%23N8PU1FPFHA.1088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> >> Hi Eileen
> >>
> >> you didn't say how many cell blocks you were selecting - is there any
> > chance
> >> that you're selecting more than 30 as this could cause a problem.
> >> --
> >> Cheers
> >> JulieD
> >> check out www.hcts.net.au/tipsandtricks.htm
> >> ...well i'm working on it anyway
> >> "Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> >> news:%23HJoyz%23OFHA.1176@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> >> > When I try to sum up a partial column that has blank cells, Excel
locks
> >> > up.
> >> > I then have to 'End Task' I have been using CTRL to select the cells
> > that
> >> > I
> >> > want to add. What am I doing wrong?
> >> > Thanks, Eileen
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>

That means that either you didn't match the spelling of the named range in
the formula, or, you didn't really create that named range in the first
place.

Expand the name box by clicking on the little down arrow to the right of the
name box.
Does the spelling of the range match what's in the formula?

Do you even see the name of the range you created displayed in the drop-down
window?
If not, try again, following Julies directions exactly.

You can also try:
<Insert> <Name> <Define>
Where you should find the name of the range you created.
Click on the range name and you'll see the individual cells included in the
range displayed in the "Refers To" box.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================

"Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:eM%23EG4UPFHA.1088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
Julie,
That didn't bring up a sum... what came up in the cell was "#NAME?".
Eileen

"JulieD" <JulieD@hctsReMoVeThIs.net.au> wrote in message
news:u8Cqd9MPFHA.1884@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Hi Eileen
>
> if you use the SHIFT key then they're counted as one parameter ... what
the
> issue is here is that the syntax of the SUM function is
> SUM(number1,number2, ...)
>
> where Number1, number2, ... are 1 to 30 arguments for which you want
the
> total value or sum.
>
> so,
> =SUM(A222:A230)
> is only couned as one arguement, whereas
> =SUM(A222,A223,A224,A226,A229,A230)
> is counted as 6
>
> so coming back to your original problem, you should be able to select up
to
> 30 arguments when using the SUM function without problems, unless you're
> exceeding the maximum number of characters allowed in a function (which is
> 1024 characters)
>
> so let's try something else ... select the 29 cells you want to add using
> the control key and click in the name box (little box to left of formula
> bar), type a name (e.g. CCells) and press Enter
> now in a cell type
> =SUM(CCells)
> and see if that works.
> --
> Cheers
> JulieD
> check out www.hcts.net.au/tipsandtricks.htm
> ...well i'm working on it anyway
> "Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> news:emYZEdKPFHA.3668@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> >I just counted them... 29 cells but there were a lot of empty cells that
I
> > didn't use because of using the Ctrl key. If I had used the Shift
> > (highlighting all cells from 222 to 287) there would have been 65.
> > Thanks, Eileen
> >
> > "JulieD" <JulieD@hctsReMoVeThIs.net.au> wrote in message
> > news:%23N8PU1FPFHA.1088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> >> Hi Eileen
> >>
> >> you didn't say how many cell blocks you were selecting - is there any
> > chance
> >> that you're selecting more than 30 as this could cause a problem.
> >> --
> >> Cheers
> >> JulieD
> >> check out www.hcts.net.au/tipsandtricks.htm
> >> ...well i'm working on it anyway
> >> "Eileen" <vann@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> >> news:%23HJoyz%23OFHA.1176@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> >> > When I try to sum up a partial column that has blank cells, Excel
locks
> >> > up.
> >> > I then have to 'End Task' I have been using CTRL to select the cells
> > that
> >> > I
> >> > want to add. What am I doing wrong?
> >> > Thanks, Eileen
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>