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: Summing Only Positive Values.

Summing Only Positive Values

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 23, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Alma has a worksheet that has a column of data containing both positive and negative values. She would like to sum only the positive values in the column and is wondering if there is a way to do it.

Fortunately, Excel provides a convenient worksheet function you can use for just this purpose. Suppose, for instance, that all the values were in column A. In a different column you could enter the following formula:

=SUMIF(A:A,">0")

The SUMIF function returns a sum of all values in the range (A:A) that meet the criteria specified (>0). Any other values—those less than or equal to 0—are not included in the sum.

If you don't want to use SUMIF on an entire column, a simple modification in the range being evaluated can be made:

=SUMIF(A1:A100,">0")

Here only the range of A1:A100 is being evaluated and included in the sum.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3349) 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 Positive Values.

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. ...

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