Microsoft Excel 2010 : SUBTOTAL Function, Subtotal Tool

12/3/2013 3:08:17 AM

1. SUBTOTAL Function

The SUBTOTAL function calculates a column of numbers based on the code used in the function. With the correct code, SUBTOTAL can calculate averages, counts, sums, and eight other functions listed in Table 1. It can also ignore hidden rows when the 100 version of the code is used.

Table 1. SUBTOTAL Function Numbers
Function_num (includes hidden values)	Function_num (ignores hidden values)	Function
1	101	AVERAGE
2	102	COUNT
3	103	COUNTA
4	104	MAX
5	105	MIN
6	106	PRODUCT
7	107	STDEV
8	108	STDEVP
9	109	SUM
10	110	VAR
11	111	VARP

See Figure 1 for examples of the SUBTOTAL function in action. The function will ignore any cells in the range that include SUBTOTAL functions themselves, as shown in column E of the worksheet in the figure. Column G uses the SUM function instead of SUBTOTAL and does not ignore the hidden rows or previous SUM formulas in the Grand Total.

Figure 1. Use SUBTOTAL to ignore hidden rows and prevent counting other SUBTOTAL calculations twice in the Grand Total.

2. Subtotal Tool

The SUBTOTAL function is very useful, but if you have a large dataset it can be time consuming to insert all the Total rows. When your dataset is large, use the Subtotal tool from the Data tab in the Outline group. This tool will group the sorted data, applying the selected function.

From the Subtotal dialog, you can select the column to group the data by, the function to subtotal by, and which columns to apply the subtotal to.

Summarizing Data Using the Subtotal Command

To quickly group and apply subtotals to a dataset, follow these steps:

Sort the data by the column the summary should be based on. For example, if summarizing by region, sort the Region column.

Select a cell in the dataset.

Go to Data, Outline, Subtotal. The Subtotal dialog, shown in Figure 2, will open.

Figure 2. Use the Subtotal dialog to set your subtotaling options.

From the At Each Change In field, select the column by which to summarize the data.

From the Use Function field, select the function to calculate the totals by.

From the Add Subtotal To field, select the columns the totals should be added to. Notice that, by default, the last column is already selected.

Click OK. The data will be grouped and subtotaled, with a grand total at the very bottom, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Profit is summarized for each region.

Placing Subtotals Above Data

By default, subtotals appear below the data being summarized. If the subtotals need to appear above the data instead, deselect Summary Below Data in the Subtotal dialog.

Remove Subtotals or Groups

To remove all the subtotals and groups, click the Remove All button in the Subtotal dialog. To remove only the group and outline buttons, leaving the subtotal intact, select Data, Outline, Ungroup, Clear Outline.