Summing Only Visible Values

Kirk is using the SUM function in many of his worksheets to (naturally) determine the sum of a range of values. The problem he is running into, however, is that the range he is summing contains some hidden rows, and he doesn't want those values—the hidden ones—included in the sum.

The SUM function is pretty simplistic in how it does its work; it simply sums a range. You can change the function you use and get the desired results, however. For instance, let's assume that you want to sum the range of A3:A45, and that you don't want any hidden values to be included in the sum. You should use the SUBTOTAL function in the following manner:

=SUBTOTAL(109,A3:A45)

The first parameter of the function (109) indicates how you want SUBTOTAL to do its work. In this case, it means you want SUBTOTAL to sum the range, using the SUM function, and you don't want any hidden values included in the value returned. (You can find out more about the controlling SUBTOTAL parameters if you look in the online Help for the SUBTOTAL function.)

If you don't want to use the SUBTOTAL function for some reason, you can create your own user-defined function (a macro) that will only sum the visible values in a range. Consider the following macro:

Function Sum_Visible(Cells_To_Sum As Object)
    Dim vTotal As Variant

    Application.Volatile
    vTotal = 0
    For Each cell In Cells_To_Sum
        If Not cell.Rows.Hidden Then
            If Not cell.Columns.Hidden Then
                vTotal = vTotal + cell.Value
            End If
        End If
    Next
    Sum_Visible = vTotal
End Function

To use the function, simply use a formula like this wherever you want your sum to appear:

=Sum_Visible(A1:A1000)

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3082) 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: Summing Only Visible Values.