The SUM Secret: A Quick Trick to Add Non-Adjacent Cells in Excel

You don't need a massive formula to sum five different cells. This simple trick lets you select what you need and let Excel do the typing.

When creating financial summaries or performance reports, you often need to sum data from disparate cells—say, Quarter 1 totals from A5, A12, and A19. The tedious way is typing =A5+A12+A19, but there's a more efficient, click-based method.

The Method: AutoSum and the Ctrl Key

The key to quickly summing **non-contiguous** (non-adjacent) cells lies in how you input the arguments into the **SUM function** while using a simple shortcut.

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. **Start the Formula:** Select the cell where you want the total to appear. Type =SUM( to begin the function.
2. **Select the First Cell:** Click on your first cell or range (e.g., cell **A5**).
3. **Select the Remaining Cells (The Trick!):** Now, hold down the **Ctrl key (Windows) or Cmd key (Mac)**. While holding the key, click on the next non-adjacent cell or range (e.g., cell **A12**, then **A19**).
4. **Verify and Complete:** Notice that as you click, Excel automatically separates the cell references with commas (=SUM(A5,A12,A19)). Release the Ctrl/Cmd key, close the parenthesis ), and hit Enter.

Why is this better?

This technique prevents typos in your cell references, making your formulas more reliable. It’s also significantly faster when you need to select dozens of specific, separate cells, eliminating the need to manually type every comma and cell reference.

Bonus Tip: Using the Status Bar

If you just need a quick, temporary check of the total and don't need the formula in a cell, you can select all the non-contiguous cells (using the Ctrl/Cmd trick) and look at the bottom right corner of your Excel window. The **Status Bar** will instantly display the **Sum**, Count, and Average for the selected items.

Mastering selection shortcuts like Ctrl+Click can cut your data processing time in half!