Get total of cells based on variable criteria

If you need to get the numeric total of some cells in a spreadsheet it's super easy:

=SUM(A1:A5)

This simply adds cells A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5 together and returns the total value.

If you want to get the total of cells A1:A5 that meet a specific criteria then you can use a SUMIF formula. It will look a little bit like this:

=SUMIF(A1:A5, "Won", B1:B5)

In plain English: IF a cell in the range B1:B5 is the word "Won", check the row for it's value in column A. Once all cells in column B have been checked, SUM the values from column from A that meet the criteria.