Excel status bar not showing sum: how to fix it

1. Sum is switched off

The status bar only shows the figures you've ticked in its menu. Someone may have unticked Sum, or it was never on in your setup.

1. Right-click anywhere on the status bar, the strip below the sheet tabs.
2. Tick Sum. While you're there, Average, Count, Numerical Count, Minimum and Maximum are all available.
3. Click back on the sheet and select two or more numbers.

2. You see Count but no Sum: numbers stored as text

This is the most common cause. The status bar shows Sum only when the selection contains real numbers, and Count counts every non-empty cell, text included. Select a range of numbers stored as text and you get a Count and nothing else. Select a mix and Sum quietly adds only the real numbers.

In the sheet above, three amounts are text ("310", "85" and " 40" with a leading space). They came from an export, as they usually do. Select B2:B7 and the status bar shows Count 6 but Sum only 670. Turn on Numerical Count too: it counts numbers only, so Count 6 next to Numerical Count 3 tells you three cells are text.

Check and fix the text numbers

The formula below adds all six after converting text to numbers, which tells you the real total. To fix the cells for good, select them, click the yellow warning icon and choose Convert to Number, or use Data > Text to Columns > Finish on the column. The full set of methods is in numbers stored as text. Then the status bar Sum and every SUM formula agree with the real total.

3. Only one cell selected

With a single cell selected, the status bar doesn't show Sum, Average or Count, even if they're ticked. Select at least two cells that contain numbers. To check one cell's value, the formula bar is the place to look.

Recent versions of Microsoft 365 for Windows also let you click a value on the status bar, such as the Sum, to copy it, which saves retyping it into an email.

4. No status bar at all

If the bar at the bottom has gone completely, along with the ribbon and formula bar, Excel is in full screen mode. Press Ctrl+Shift+F1 to toggle it off, or see Excel ribbon missing for the ribbon display options.

If only the status bar is missing, a macro may have hidden it with Application.DisplayStatusBar = False, and the setting stays until something turns it back on. Press Alt+F11 to open the VBA editor, then Ctrl+G to open the Immediate window, type Application.DisplayStatusBar = True and press Enter.

5. The status bar sum is right, but you need it in a cell

The status bar is for quick checks; it isn't saved anywhere. When the total matters, use a formula: SUM for a plain total, or SUBTOTAL(109,...) for a filtered list so hidden rows are left out of the result. See sum visible cells only and, if your SUM and the status bar disagree with what you expected, Excel SUM not adding up.