Hi Bob

Your data is ideal for summary with a Pivot Table.
This would allow you to easily summarise your data by Category (and by Month
if you want).

For help on how to set up Pivot Tables take a look at
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Pivots/pivotstart.htm


Regards

Roger Govier


bobthedinosaur wrote:
ok so here's what ive got

table of accouting stuff
4 columns
column 1 : Date
column 2 : Category (eg. groceries, laundry, allowance)
column 3 : shop name
column 4 : amount in dollars

and then a whole bunch of rows with a variable for each column

what i want to do is make a cell with a formula that will add up all
the amounts in dollars of a certain category

eg. if a row's category value is groceries, then i want that amount in
dollars for that row to be added to the value in dollars in a cell that
adds up all the amounts for every row where the category is groceries

hope i put it clear enough...

can this be done in excel?

thanks in advance