Excel can feel overwhelming at first, with the millions of formulas and articles online. 4+ hour videos about how to become an Excel master, but all you wanted was a bit of the basics.
Below, you will find a few of the most basic Excel formulas, along with when and how to use them. Once you understand how these formulas work, analyzing data becomes much faster and easier.
Maybe you’ve never touched Excel a day in your life. Maybe you aren’t a beginner with Excel and just need a reminder of the key components you’ll use most often. Whatever the case, welcome.
Before we begin, if you encounter an error in any of the imported data you are trying to manipulate, select an area of data, open the menu on the warning, and choose “Convert to Number”.
Here are four essential Excel formulas every beginner should know and how to use them.
1. SUM & SUMIF – Add Numbers Quickly
The SUM formula adds numbers together.
Formula
=SUM(A1:A15)
This adds the values in cells A1 through A15.
When to use it
Use SUM when you need to calculate totals, such as:
- total sales
- total expenses
- total units sold
SUMIF – Add Numbers That Meet a Condition
SUMIF works the same way as SUM, but only adds numbers that meet a specific condition.
Formula
=SUMIF(A1:A10,”Chocolate”,B1:B10)
This adds the values in column B only when column A contains “Chocolate.”
When to use it
SUMIF is useful when you want totals for:
- a specific employee
- a specific product
- a specific category
2. AVERAGE – Find the Mean Value
The AVERAGE formula calculates the mean of a group of numbers.
Formula
=AVERAGE(A1:A10)
If A1 through A10 contain numbers, Excel will return the average.
When to use it
AVERAGE is commonly used for:
- test scores
- financial metrics
- performance tracking
3. COUNT & COUNTIF – Count Data Automatically
The COUNT formula counts the number of cells that contain numbers.
Formula
=COUNT(A1:A10)
This counts the number of numeric values in the range.
COUNTIF – Count Cells That Meet a Condition
COUNTIF counts cells only when they meet a certain condition.
Formula
=COUNTIF(A1:A10,”Complete”)
If column A contains task statuses, this formula counts how many are marked complete.
When to use it
These formulas are useful for:
- counting transactions
- tracking completed tasks
- summarizing categories in data
4. IF – Make Logical Decisions
The IF formula allows Excel to return different results depending on whether a condition is true or false.
Formula
=IF(A1>25,”Pass”,”Fail”)
If the value in A1 is greater than 25, Excel returns pass. Otherwise, it returns fail.
When to use it
IF is useful for:
- grading systems
- performance tracking
- categorizing data
Once you’re comfortable with these basics, you can start exploring more advanced tools like pivot tables, conditional formatting, and lookup formulas.