Just click individual cells to sum
Excel 2011 had the possibility to sum individual cells by typing "=", and then just clicking on individual cells across the workbook that you want to sum, and "return" when done. This functionality is no longer available in Excel 2016 (you have to type "=sum(", then clicking on the individual cells while holding down the command key, "return". I would be happy if the old functionality is brought to Excel 2016.
Saskia Aldershof
shared this idea
Update – thanks for the continued support of this feature. We’ll keep this request open for voting, but we’ll need to consider modifying the behavior slightly if it is to be brought back. For this suggestion, we would want to enable such behavior on both Mac and Windows, but we would need to do it in a way that does not cause problems for people who don’t want this behavior. For example, it may be that you would type =, then hold the CMD key as you click the cells to be added. Or perhaps you would need to enable a preference to get the old behavior. Please comment on these options or offer other ideas.
We’ve been working to make Excel more consistent between Mac and Windows, as can be seen by the updates over the past several months, which have satisfied several thousand votes on this forum (multi-thread calculation, PivotCharts, modern chart types, new functions, slicers for tables). I mention that to be clear that we are listening to the suggestions, comments and votes.
Steve K [MS Excel]
313 comments
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Anonymous
commented
I wish had not upgraded. I hate this excel. I can't believe you can't add like before as described by the original poster. I waste so much time every day on this.
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JB
commented
Just upgraded to 2016. This has to be one of the least user-tested upgrades in software history based on just the "+" functionality gone missing. EVERY Mac Excel user used this functionality, so that means NO Mac Excel user tested 2016 before they shipped it. Unbelievable! Patch it with an option to turn it back on or I'm through with Office products forever.
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Anonymous
commented
Have they lost their minds?!
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Anonymous
commented
I am so upset about my upgrade to 2016. Actually I feel like this is more of a downgrade. Losing this feature is resulting a tremendous amount of wasted time typing "+". I am see this thread was last commented on in 2015. WHY HAVEN'T YOU DONE ANYTHING YET, MICROSOFT?!?!
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Anonymous
commented
Totally agree – bring it back!
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Chelsea
commented
AGREED. I used that function all of the time when I did not want to autosum a column, or have to press the + key every time to add a cell. It was so quick and efficient. I just upgraded to Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac and could not figure out why it would not work. Thanks for posting so I know I am not crazy or had a setting wrong. Hopefully the feature will be added back. No reason to take it away!
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Josh
commented
I AGREE!!! This is killing me....I need "click addition" added back....HELP!!!!!!
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Anonymous
commented
This is Crazy
Why would they eliminate a basic fucntion like this
i will try antother spread sheet program -
Allison Lee
commented
MADNESS.
Please change it back. What a waste of time. -
Linda
commented
I agree with the others in this thread - this was a very useful shortcut for quick addition of a couple cells, and I'm finding out now how often I used it. Why does 'consistency with Windows' mean that useful Mac shortcuts get taken away?
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Sofia
commented
Also agree - it's driving me nuts and slowing down work rate.
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trisha
commented
Thank you! I thought i was the only one! messaged ms numerous times with no response.
Actually thinking about 'downgrading' to an earlier version. -
Mike
commented
Thought it was just me! Adding my name to the list. Please bring back old way! Its just better.
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Anonymous
commented
I'm afraid saying this was taken out to align it more with windows is the most feeble response and uneducated decision I've heard of in quite a while. It is quite clearly a beneficial process - please someone come up with one negative against it? We have 50+ users thoroughly pissed off with it as they regularly sum certain cells to create invoices (200+ invoice per month) having to add in + sign each time (sometimes 50+ times per invoice) is actually very time consuming. Similarly adding =SUM( cmd is also time consuming when doing this volume of simple addition. Taking a function out because windows doesn't have is ridiculous - why not add it to windows instead of taking it from mac!?
Now for a solution - realistically can this be added back in in a patch/minor update soon? Or is it something that can't be added until Excel 20whateveritwillbe is released?
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MB
commented
Cannot believe it! I'm thinking about swithching back to 2011. This makes no sense, I use this fonction ALL THE TIME. It's driving me crazy!
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Anonymous
commented
Glad I found this thread. Just downloaded office 2016 and got straight to work on some spreadsheets only to find that = then clicking individual cells is not working for me. I assumed I was doing something wrong, although I couldn't really work out how you could get this wrong as so simple!! This new format is a complete pain. Why fix something if it isn't broken?? Please please revert back to the old style!
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DavidH
commented
Adding my voice to this request. Now it is SO laborious when a lot of random cells need to be added from other sheets. PLEASE bring this back in - as an option in Preferences, so that people who came up through the Windows route from v2 can learn to love it too.
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Anonymous
commented
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD3drwjTmKg
This video illustrates how easy and useful this function was.
While awkward when you didn't know what it did, this function is a life saver. I schedule network music competition shows and if you've ever seen one, you know how many people that get filed through those things. Well, each of the hundreds of contestants must do dozens and dozens of tasks, equally, and we schedule down to the minute. This function allowed us to quickly create formulas for these hundreds and hundreds of tasks, trying things out, playing with time, and seeing what works and what doesn't. To have to type SUM, or even hit "=" click the cell, hold shift to type "+", then click another cell and enter is such a redundant task and truthfully slows down our work. On average that 2 seconds we have per action equals to 83 MINUTES a day we are loosing.
If this function was nuisance for some, no problem, just have option turn the function off. I have no idea what this feature was called but it was a life saver, and should be on both the Windows and Mac version of Excel. It is so counter intuitive to remove convenience and customization to turn off said convenience if it isn't someone's cup of tea.
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Anonymous
commented
Changing the user experience with such a basic and easy to use function seems crazy to me. It is a common problem with people who code this stuff. They don't seem to be USERS. Please don't assume that since as a coder you don't use it the users probably don't use it. PLEASE bring this feature back.
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Anonymous
commented
As a policy decision MS may want to reconsider how it keeps consistency. Most companies try to have "continuous improvement" of services to their customers. Using that model then, if a platform (Widows or Mac) has a feature that improves productivity, it should be added to the other platform so that both grow. Seems counterintuitive to slow down one group of users. I suggest that MS speeds up the Windows users of Excel by adding click to sum.