One way is to use Sumproduct instead of sumif.

This would go:
=sumproduct(--($A$5:$A$63="jones"),--($B$5:$B$63="a"),--($C$5:$C$63))

The problem with your current formula is, the value being returned from the
second sumif is not a range where a range is expected by the first sumif.

"Macil" wrote:

can I nest a sumif function within a sumif function? i want to sum the data
with in column c if data in coulmn a ="a" and data in column b="b" Here is
what I tried to write
=sumif($a$5:$a$63,"jones",sumif($b$5:$b$63,"a",c$5 :c$63) It won't work and
can not determine where problem is