How to sum column so sum cell has total instead of sum formula

Question

Want to total a column of numbers. I set up a cell at bottom of column and used Sum Total. It enters the formula for the column instead of the sum of the numbers in the column

Answer 1

@Carol Coursey

Unless I misread your question, I believe it is not your intention to replace the formula with a pasted value. I suspect that you have accidentally activated the "Show Formulas" button on the Formulas ribbon, causing formulas to show rather than their outcome. Press the button again and see if that resolves the problem.

Answer 2

Check the documentation:

• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/replace-a-formula-with-its-result-in-excel-38001951-c0e8-4fbd-9048-37ef81e2891e

Therefore, you can select the cell that contains the sum, then press <F2>, <F9> and <Enter>.

Answer 3

Excel always stores a formula (like =SUM(A1:A10)) in the total cell; it does not replace the formula with a fixed number. The formula calculates and displays the total of the column.

To have a fixed value instead of a live formula, first calculate the total with AutoSum, then convert the result to a value:

1. Use AutoSum in the cell at the bottom of the column (for example, =SUM(A1:A10)).
2. Select that total cell and copy it (Ctrl+C).
3. Right‑click the same cell and choose Paste Special > Values.

The cell will now contain just the numeric total, not the SUM formula.

If the goal is simply to total a column and keep it updating automatically when data changes, leave the SUM formula in place. AutoSum is designed to insert the formula and show the result in the cell.

---

References:

• Use AutoSum to sum numbers in Excel
• Total the data in an Excel table