Subtotals Option Grayed Out

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 28, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 2003


Katherine, using Office 2003, reports that when she is working with a table of data in Excel, she can't choose the Subtotals option from the Data menu. When she displays the Data menu, the option is grayed out, and she cannot select it.

When things are disabled in a workbook there is usually some setup which prevents it in some way. If it happens with all the workbooks (even a new one) there is probably a problem with Excel, and you should look at fixing it or reinstalling it. (How to do this has been covered in other issues of ExcelTips.)

If the problem occurs only in a single workbook, then the problem is probably with the data itself. For instance, Excel 2003 allows you to create formal data lists, which are generally used for generating XML data. If there is a blue border that appears around your data, then you have probably created a data list, and the Subtotals option will no longer be available for that data. To get rid of the data list, select one of the cells within the list, and then choose Data | List | Convert to Range. The Subtotals option should be available as soon as the conversion is complete.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3074) applies to Microsoft Excel 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Conditional Processing During a Mail Merge

The Mail Merge capabilities can appear limited at first glance. One thing that is often overlooked (and which makes the ...

Discover More

Removing Borders

Need to get rid of the borders around a cell? The shortcut in this tip can make quick work of this formatting task.

Discover More

Dealing with Large Numbers of Seconds

When adding values to a time to calculate a new time, you may naturally choose to use the TIME function. This can cause ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Excel Refuses to Put Page Breaks between Subtotal Groups

Page breaks not appearing where you expect them in your subtotaled data? It could be because of a setting you made in ...

Discover More

Copying Subtotals

If you have added subtotals to your worksheet data, you might want to copy those subtotals somewhere else. This is easy ...

Discover More

Formatting Subtotal Rows

Excel automatically formats subtotals for you. But what if you want to change the default to something more suitable for ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five more than 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.