When you have a list of numbers and you want to show totals, you do not need to start Windows’ built-in Calculator to sum them.
MS Word can calculate totals and averages and do other simple calculations. In order to do this though, you must have your Tables and Borders toolbar visible.
Before you start, click on View | Toolbars or right-click on an empty space on an existing toolbar and select Tables and Borders.
Follow the instructions below to begin summing figures:
Simply place your cursor in a blank cell of your table, below or to the right ofthe numbers you would like to total.
Click the AutoSum (resembles a sideways letter M) button on the Tables and Borders toolbar to calculate totals automatically.
To make other types of calculations, Click on Table | Formula. This will open the dialog box.
If your figures should change, you must recalculate the formual. To do this, select the formula and press the F9 key.
When you place a formula in a table, the numbers appear with grey shading. They will not print in grey though. The grey shading simply lets you know that you have a formula, not just typed figures.
You can also total figures in paragraphs in MS Word. The Calculate function in MS Word ignores any text that is not a number, except for currency symbols, periods and commas, which it recognizes when they are part of a number.
For operations other than addition, you must include the mathematical operator. To force a calculation out of precedence order, enclose the expression in parentheses.
You can add the Tools Calculate button to any toolbar or shortcut menu by following the steps below:
- Select Tools | Customize.
- Click the Commands tab.
- In the Categories column, select All Commands.
- Scroll down until you find Tools Calculate.
- Drag the command to the Tools menu and place it wherever you like or, you could just drag it to your toolbar.
It may appear greyed out as Tools Calculate is only available when you have selected text. By default, the Calculate command will add any set of selected numbers separated by white space. Word tmporarily displays the result in the status bar and also places it on the clipboard.