How to sum values by category (conditional sum) with SUMIF
✓ Verified in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 ✓ Verified in Google Sheets (2026-08-30)Add up only the numbers whose row matches a category or label, e.g. total spend for 'Books'.
The formula
| App | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Excel | =SUMIF(A2:A6,"Books",B2:B6) | Works in all Excel versions. |
| Google Sheets | =SUMIF(A2:A6,"Books",B2:B6) | Identical syntax. |
| LibreOffice Calc | =SUMIF(A2:A6,"Books",B2:B6) | Fully supported. |
How it works
SUMIF(range, criteria, sum_range) adds every value in sum_range whose matching cell in range meets the criteria. Here the three 'Books' rows (10 + 7 + 2) total 19. For multiple conditions, use SUMIFS.
Verified, not just documented
We ran =SUMIF(A2:A6,"Books",B2:B6) in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 (headless, with forced recalculation) and it returned 19 — exactly the expected result. We then ran the same formulas in Google Sheets, executed 2026-08-30: a formula-only workbook goes into Google Drive, which converts it to a Sheet and recalculates every formula with Google’s own engine, and comes back out as .xlsx carrying the values Google computed. It returned 19 for the worked example, the same value LibreOffice produced. Both engines’ numbers on this page are executed results. The Excel formula follows Microsoft’s official documented syntax — we do not run Excel.
Functions used
SUMIF — see full Excel, Google Sheets & LibreOffice compatibility for each.
Related recipes
- How to use the SUMIF function
- How to sum values where a checkbox is checked
- How to sum only positive (or only negative) numbers
- How to sum where another column is not blank
- How to sum with multiple criteria (SUMIFS)