Excel for Beginners — Lesson 3
Learn how to add numbers in Excel with a calm, step-by-step beginner lesson. Three ways to get a total: the AutoSum button, the SUM formula, and a keyboard shortcut.
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New here? This lesson carries on from Lesson 1 — Getting Started with Excel and Lesson 2 — Formatting and Organising Your Spreadsheet. You can still follow along without them; any short list of numbers of your own will do.
AutoSum is the quickest way to get a total. Click the empty cell at the bottom of a column of numbers, choose AutoSum on the Home tab, and Excel suggests which cells to add. Check that it has picked the right ones, then press Enter.
AutoSum is really writing a formula for you, and you can type the same formula yourself. Every formula starts with an equals sign. For example, =SUM(B2:B6) tells Excel to add every cell from B2 down to B6. That group of cells is called a range.
On Windows, hold Alt and press =. It does the same job as clicking the AutoSum button, without reaching for the mouse.
Practise as you watch. Follow along in your own spreadsheet, and pause whenever you need time to practise. These simple skills are useful for everyday lists, budgets and work tasks.
Practise what you have just watched
A ready-made workbook that starts with AutoSum and builds from there, one written step at a time. Watching Excel is one thing; the confidence comes from doing it yourself.
Headings, a title, currency formatting, column widths, borders and Format Painter.
Go to Lesson 2Prefer someone sitting beside you while you try it? Your first 15-minute call is free.
Book a free callLesson 4 is now up. Once you can add a list of numbers, the next step is finding the average, the smallest and the largest. Go to Lesson 4 — AVERAGE, MIN and MAX →
More Excel videos. Percentages, GST for Australia and New Zealand, SUMIF and more are in the full video series. See every computer skills and Excel video →
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