Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Status Bar Summing No Longer Available.
Steve notes that he used to be able to highlight a row or column of numbers in Excel and the sum of that row or column would appear on the status bar. All of a sudden the sum has stopped appearing, and Steve wonders how to get it back.
The first thing to check is that the status bar is actually displayed on the screen. If it is not (for instance, you don't see "Ready" at the left side of where the status bar normally appears), then you need to follow these steps:
Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.
With the status bar displayed, Excel can show several different statistics about your selection, not just the sum. Right-click the status bar and you should see a Context menu appear that offers choices such as Average, Count, etc. (The options available depend on the version of Excel you are using.) If None is selected, then the status bar doesn't display anything about your selection. If Sum is selected, then you will see the sum that you desire.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (5491) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Status Bar Summing No Longer Available.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: 
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