November 2025
Intermediate to advanced
207 pages
6h 14m
English
Content preview from Excel at 40
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- AutoSum
According to Microsoft’s usage telemetry, AutoSum ranks as one of the top five most-used Excel features. Paste, Copy, Bold, Save, and, yes, AutoSum make up the big five. (And for the trivia crowd: Paste beats Copy because it gets used after both Copy and Cut.)
So what makes AutoSum so indispensable?
The Origins of AutoSum
AutoSum first appeared in Excel 3.0, released in 1990. That version also introduced the toolbar, making Excel the first software to ever include one.
And sitting right on that original toolbar? The now-iconic Sigma (∑) symbol. It hasn’t changed in over 35 years, a remarkable run considering how often Excel features get renamed, relocated, or redesigned.
Although, I’ve heard a lot of crazy names for it over the years: ...
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