Table column not adding correctly

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terri
  • Start date Start date
T

Terri

New snag in a table. I have four columns, and the right
column is dollar values. The problem is that sometimes a
table will have a row that doesn't have a dollar amount.
If, say, row 10 has no dollar value, Word adds the column
only from row 11 down.
I tried putting a $0 value into the blank row, but it
did the same thing, which surprised me.
Any hints?
 
First, searching MS Word Help (F1) for
"perform calculations in a table" reveals:

"If your column or row contains blank cells,
Word will not total the entire column or row.
To total the entire row or column, type a zero
in each blank cell."

If your blank cell is formatted as numeric with
decimals, try formatting entering "$0." and
"$0.00"

Good luck.
 
Hi Terri,

I had the same problem with a very long table and
inserting zeros was really not viable. Thanks to Suzanne
Barnhill I now use ToolsCalculate. I just select the
column that I want to sum and click on ToolsCalculate
which puts the total on the ClipBoard. I then do a paste
in the table cell where I want the total. It works
great. It seems that ToolsCalculate skips anything that
is not numeric. In my table I sometimes have text in the
number column and it still works.

Use customize and under Tools look for the ToolsCalculate
and move it to where you want it. I put it under tools.

Jerry B.
 
If all else fails, create the table in Excel and insert it. Excel is much
more convenient for table calculations.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
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I looked at all three suggestions. I don't have Excel. I
didn't purposely format the column as $.00 (none of the
other numbers have decimals), but I noticed that the
calculation itself came up with decimals, so I tried
putting $.00 in the blank row, the calculation worked. I
don't know where to go to reformat the decimal attribute.
So this is a solution for this particular batch of
tables, but I would still like to try the ToolsCalculate
feature. When I added it to the Tables toolbar, however,
it is grayed out and I can't use it. Can you tell me how
to make it active?
Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
Hi Terri,

From your description, it seems that the field summing the row uses
=SUM(LEFT), which only sums values after the last blank cell. To add columns
1-3 on row 2, regardless of blank cells, you could use =SUM(A2:C2). Change
the column/cell references to suit your needs. For what it's worth,
=SUM(ABOVE) exhibits the same behaviour when summing columns.

cheers
 
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