How to Sum by month in Excel (2024)

Summarizing data by month in Excel is a common requirement in various fields such as finance, sales, inventory management, and more. This approach allows you to track trends, make month-over-month comparisons, and gain insights into monthly performance. Excel offers several methods to sum data by month, leveraging its powerful date and time functions, along with conditional summing techniques like SUMIF or PivotTables.

Benefits

- Trend Analysis: Identifying trends in monthly data helps in making informed decisions.

- Simplification of Large Data Sets: Aggregating data by month simplifies the analysis of large, date-stamped datasets.

- Performance Tracking: Essential for tracking sales, expenses, or other key performance indicators on a monthly basis.

- Budgeting and Forecasting: Useful in preparing and analyzing budgets and financial forecasts.

How to Sum by month in Excel (1)

Step-by-Step:

Step 1: Preparing Your Data

1. Organize Your Data: Ensure your data set includes dates and the values you wish to sum. The dates should be in a proper date format recognized by Excel.

Step 2: Adding a Month Column

2. Create a Month Column: Insert a new column in your data to extract the month from each date.

Step 3: Summing Data by Month

3. Implement SUMIF, SUMIFS, or PivotTable: Use these features to sum your data based on the month.

Example

Scenario

You have a sales dataset and need to calculate total sales for each month.

Sample Data:

- Column A: Sale Dates (A2:A100)

- Column B: Sale Amounts (B2:B100)

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Steps:

1. Insert a New Column for the Month:

- Insert a new column next to your sale dates (Column B).

- Title this new column "Month".

2. Extract Month from Sale Dates:

- In the first cell of your new "Month" column (B2), use the formula to extract the month:

=TEXT(A2, "MMMM")

- Drag the fill handle down to copy this formula for all rows.

3. Sum Sales by Month Using SUMIF:

- In a new area or sheet, list each month (e.g., January, February, etc.).

- Next to each month, use the SUMIF function to sum the sales for that month. For example, next to "January":

=SUMIF(B2:B100, "January", C2:C100)

- Repeat this for each month.

4. Results:

- You will have the total sales for each month listed next to the respective month's name.

Advanced Tips:

1. Using PivotTables for Dynamic Summarization:

- PivotTables offer a more dynamic way to sum data by month. Group your date field by month in the PivotTable for easy analysis.

2. Creating Dynamic Month-Year Columns:

- For more detailed analysis, create a month-year column (`=TEXT(A2, "MMM-YYYY")`) to track data across different years.

3. Automating Month Extraction with Dynamic Arrays:

- If using Excel 365, leverage dynamic arrays to automatically fill the month column without dragging formulas.

4. Handling Data Across Multiple Years:

- Ensure your analysis correctly handles data spanning multiple years, either by separating years in your summing criteria or by creating separate year columns.

5. Data Validation for Date Entries:

- Use data validation to ensure that all date entries are correct and consistent.

6. Conditional Formatting for Visualization:

- Apply conditional formatting to your data to visually highlight trends or significant values.

7. Optimizing for Large Data Sets:

- For very large datasets, consider performance impacts. SUMIFS and PivotTables are generally more efficient than array formulas.

8. Incorporating Error Checking:

- Include error-checking mechanisms, such as ISERROR or IFERROR, in your formulas to handle any potential issues in your data.

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How to Sum by month in Excel (2024)

FAQs

How to Sum by month in Excel? ›

To sum monthly - based data in Excel , you can use the SUMIF or SUMIFS function . These functions allow you to specify a criteria , such as a specific month , and then sum the corresponding data .

How to sum based on month in Excel? ›

SUMIFS solution

The syntax for SUMIFS looks like this: =SUMIFS(sum_range,range1,criteria1,range2,criteria2,...) Roughly translated, the meaning of this formula is "Sum the amounts in C6:C16 when the date in B5:B16 is greater than or equal to the date in E5 and less than the first day of the next month".

How to aggregate data by month in Excel? ›

Step One: Group your PivotTable by Month

Right-Click on any cell within the Dates column and select Group from the fly-out list. Then select Month in the dialog box. Using the Starting at: and Ending at: fields, you can even specify the range of dates that you want to group if you don't want to group the entire list.

How to get month-wise data in Excel? ›

Select the records that you want to sort by month name. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort. In the Sort dialog box, do the following: Under Column, select the name of the column that contains the month names.

How do you add by months in Excel? ›

You can use the EDATE function to quickly add or subtract months from a date. The EDATE function requires two arguments: the start date and the number of months that you want to add or subtract. To subtract months, enter a negative number as the second argument. For example, =EDATE("9/15/19",-5) returns 4/15/19.

How do I go up by month in Excel? ›

Here's an Excel formula that will increase a date by one month. Assume that the date in question is in cell A1. Type this formula nearby, perhaps in cell B1: =DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)+1,DAY(A1))

How to combine monthly data in Excel? ›

Go to Data > Consolidate. In the Function box, select the function that you want Excel to use to consolidate the data. In each source sheet, select your data.

How do I count data by month in Excel? ›

Consider an Excel sheet where you have list of dates as similar to the below image. First, to count by month, click on an empty cell, in this case cell D2, and enter the formula as =SUMPRODUCT(1*(MONTH(C3:C16)=G2)) and click enter to complete the task. In the formula, C3:C16 is the range of cells, and G2 is the month.

How do I calculate only months in Excel? ›

To use the DATEDIF function for calculating months, select the cell where you want to display the result, enter the formula =DATEDIF(start_date, end_date, "m") , and press Enter. The result will be displayed in the selected cell.

How do you summarize data by month in Excel chart? ›

To do that, you can follow these steps: Create a pivot table: Select the entire data range including the header row Go to the "Insert" tab, click "Pivot Table" and choose the location where you want to create the pivot table In the PivotTable Fields, drag the column containing the month and year information to the " ...

How do you calculate per month? ›

Simply take the total amount of money (salary) you're paid for the year and divide it by 12. For example, if you're paid an annual salary of $75,000 per year, the formula shows that your gross income per month is $6,250.

What is the formula for total by month in Excel? ›

To sum by month in Excel, start by selecting the range of cells to sum or inputting the range in the formula. Then, enter the SUMIFS formula into the cell where you want the sum to appear. Inside the formula, add the criteria range which will be used to identify the month you want to sum.

How to use month function in Excel? ›

=MONTH(serial_number)

The MONTH function uses only one argument: Serial_number (required argument) – This is the date that you want to return the month of. The date can either be: A serial number.

How do you count based on month in Excel? ›

First, to count by month, click on an empty cell, in this case cell D2, and enter the formula as =SUMPRODUCT(1*(MONTH(C3:C16)=G2)) and click enter to complete the task. In the formula, C3:C16 is the range of cells, and G2 is the month. Empty cell > Formula > Enter.

How to sum values based on date in Excel? ›

You can use either SUMIF or SUMIFS if you want to sum by a single criterion. For example, to sum if the date is equal, before, or after a specific date. Use Excel SUMIFS date range if you want to sum by multiple criteria, such as to sum if the date is between a certain range.

How do you format cells based on month in Excel? ›

On the Home tab, click Conditional Formatting. Select New Rule. Select Use a formula to determine which cells to format. Use Excel's MONTH function to find the cells that contain birthdates in the current month.

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