SUMIF will do what you want:

A1 = A
A2 = B
A3 = C
A4 = D

Entered in B1 and copied down to B4:

=SUMIF(N:N,A1,J:J)

Biff

"rainbowraven" wrote in message
...
I thought of the sumif function but here is what I can not get my brain
wrapped around

Column J = dollar amounts, of all shapes and sizes
Column N = a identifier of what kind of account that money is in, A, B, C,
or D for the different types of accounts.

What I'm wanting to do is in another cell elsewhere in the spreadsheet,
pull
all the A's from column N and add the dollar amounts together for a sum in
that cell,
Below it another cell for the B's sum and C's combined,
and then another for D's

I could do a sort manually, that's what they have been doing before, but
I'd
like to try to figure out a formula that will search out those identifiers
and sum up their corresponding $ amounts.

clear as mud?

"rainbowraven" wrote:

I have a huge spread sheet that I'd like to automate. My current delima
is
how to calculate a dollar amount in one cell with information from column
J
based on the criteria, same row, but in column N. I've tried the
sumproduct
information but I'm entering it in wrong ... I've read the questions
here
and I know this should be a relatively simply formula but I can not get
my
brain wrapped around it. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Donna