New to LibreCalc, having trouble summing a column

English
#1

I thought it might be helpful to put my family budget on a spreadsheet. Unfortunately, I cannot get it to provide a sum total of all the bills and deposits I entered in Column C. I set that column as currency, and by checking value highlighting I can see everything in that column is blue.

But when I select a blank cell and hit ALT+= , all I see is +SUM(C1:C37) I was hoping there would be a balance there.

I’ve never used a spreadsheet before, but I mistakenly thought it might be intuitive. I hope some kind soul on here might figure out what I’m doing wrong.

Thanks in advance!

#2

Perhaps your cell is formatted as text which would show the actual formula rather than the result of the formula. You can check with View | Value highlighting.


Text cells are formatted in black, formulae in green, and number cells in blue, no matter how their display is formatted.

Delete the formula, set the cell format to General and re-add the formula.

#3

A formula starts always with =, so change the text in the cell to =SUM(C1:C37) for a sum of all contents from C1 to C37 (, if your language is set to english).
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The second problem was addressed by @robleyd (cells set to “text”), but as you told you have set your column to currency I guess this is unlikely.
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But note: While the format is used as a hint on input (for example “text” will stay at +0049 30 12345 for example, while a number would changed to 493012345 and maybe shown as 49,3012,345.00) a change in formatting never changes the value of previous contents.
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Spreadsheets are old tools, around since 1985 and so the basics may not be, what you expect today. In that time we got a thick book with instructions, before using software…
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But it is not to complicated with mouse:
Click in the cell below your list of figures and start entering = so Calc “knows” this will be a formula. Then use the button with the sum sign ∑ (maybe you have to actually select SUM, if you have a menu there) and you will see a frame around the cells above, wich will be used for the sum. If everything is ok, just hit enter-key, but you can either drag the lines of the marked area, or edit the text of the range C1:C37 directly

1 Like
#4

Is this a correct description? Cf. Select Function in LibO Help.

#5

You are right. The = is not necassary here.

#6

Alas. I go into the cell below the currency. It’s column C, which is highlighted in blue. I go to the top and press Sum and get, on the left side of the cell =SUM(C1:C37). If I press Enter it moves to the right side and turns green, =SUM(C1:C37). But it doesn’t add up…

#7

Perhaps the cell formula expression is displayed instead of the calculated result.
Try View ⟶ Show Formula

(LibO Help: Show Formula)

#8

That did it. View - Show formula worked!

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