sum cells automatically

[Tony Logan]

I've set up some spreadsheets to track server activity. I noticed that on
some of the spreadsheets, each day when I fill in the totals for, say,
columns A through D, then column E automatically populates with the sum. But
on other worksheets this doesn't happen. I'd like to enable this for all my
worksheets, but I don't know how to do it, and have no idea how to explain
the current behavior of "works on some worksheets but not on others".

 

[Bob I]

Clcik Tools, Option, Calculation, Automatic.

 

[Tony Logan]

That didn't work. The option was already set, so I didn't have to make any
changes.

The "Automatic" radio button is selected in all the workbooks I'm using. One
additional bit of info is that I've added a new worksheet to each file I'm
working with, and the new worksheets don't always automatically sum the
columns, even though the previous worksheet in the same workbook DID auto sum
the columns.

 

[Bob I]

Just a guess, but toggle Off and then Back On?

That didn't work. The option was already set, so I didn't have to make any
changes.

The "Automatic" radio button is selected in all the workbooks I'm using. One
additional bit of info is that I've added a new worksheet to each file I'm
working with, and the new worksheets don't always automatically sum the
columns, even though the previous worksheet in the same workbook DID auto sum
the columns.


:

 

[Tony Logan]

Found the answer to this and thought I'd post it, as the proposed solution to
this (and some similar scenarios I've read on the discussion boards) has
typically been to select Tools > Options > Calculation tab > Automatic.
However, that option was already set.

The solution was to click in the cell where I had a total. For instance,
cells A, B, C, and D had values, and E was the total of those values. When I
clicked on cell E, a black bar appeared around the cell, with a handle in the
bottom-right corner. Grabbing that handle and dragging down however many
cells I needed to resulted in the formula repeating itself for that number of
rows, so now when I type in values in cells A-D in any of those rows, cell E
automatically updates with the total.