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Build an Excel conditional summary formula

Create a SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, or AVERAGEIFS formula from explicit criteria

5 min setupTested with:ChatGPTReviewed: 2026-08-28

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Summary questionTable layoutCriteria and boundary rules

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Create an Excel conditional summary formula.

Question:
[question]

Table layout:
[layout]

Criteria and boundary rules:
[criteria]

Choose SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, AVERAGEIFS, or another standard function only after defining the aggregation and each criteria range. Use equal-sized ranges and real Excel dates. Explain wildcard behavior and whether blanks, errors, hidden rows, and duplicate records are included. Return a structured-reference formula when a table name is supplied, a cell-range alternative, and four test cases including a date boundary and a no-match result.

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From input to outcome

A worked example

See how concrete context turns this recipe into a usable result

Actual input

Summary question: Sum net revenue for completed online orders in June 2026 for the East region.
Table layout: Excel Table named Orders with columns OrderDate (date), Region (text), Channel (text), Status (text), and NetRevenue (number).
Criteria and boundary rules: Include 1 June through 30 June 2026. Region, Channel, and Status must be exact matches. Exclude cancelled or blank statuses naturally by requiring Completed. Duplicate rows are data errors and are not automatically removed.

Example output

Use SUMIFS because one numeric field is summed under multiple row-level conditions.

Table formula =SUMIFS(Orders[NetRevenue],Orders[OrderDate],">="&DATE(2026,6,1),Orders[OrderDate],"<"&DATE(2026,7,1),Orders[Region],"East",Orders[Channel],"Online",Orders[Status],"Completed")

Using “less than 1 July” includes every time on 30 June even if OrderDate contains timestamps. Text criteria are exact apart from Excel's usual case-insensitivity. Blank and cancelled statuses do not match Completed. Hidden rows are included; duplicate rows are also included and must be checked separately.

Range version: if rows are 2–1000 and columns A:E follow the stated order, use =SUMIFS($E$2:$E$1000,$A$2:$A$1000,">="&DATE(2026,6,1),$A$2:$A$1000,"<"&DATE(2026,7,1),$B$2:$B$1000,"East",$C$2:$C$1000,"Online",$D$2:$D$1000,"Completed"). Test 1 June, a normal June row, 30 June 23:00, and a no-match subset against manual totals.

Why this works

1
Separating the value range from each criteria range prevents shifted-range errors.
2
Explicit date boundaries avoid silently excluding the last day of a reporting period.