Tip #20: Work with numbers easily using Table formulas in Writer

Tip #20: Work with numbers easily using Table formulas in Writer

Whether you're drafting a numerical table to calculate the total number of students in class or combining multiple mathematical functions to arrive at the quarterly profits, Table Formulas in Writer let you solve simple mathematical calculations by inserting formulas into cells.



For instance, say you’ve chronologically jotted down the distance you travelled in the previous week to send it to your company’s Payroll team to collect reimbursements. Instead of manually calculating the total distance travelled, you can add formulas to let Writer calculate it for you. 

To add formulas inside the table follow the below steps:

1. Click the cell where you want to add the formula.

 
2. Click the Formula icon near the inserted table to open the formula window. 


3. The Formula Settings will open. Now enter the formula you want to use. Since we want the total of the distances, we would choose the SUM formula. You can also prefix or suffix values to the result for better clarity. Since the distance is calculated in miles, we've entered the value as Miles.



4. Now click OK. The result will be as shown below.




5. If you want the sum of only certain cells, you can get the desired result by specifying the cell numbers. So if you want the sum of only the distance travelled between Monday and Thursday, you'd specify the cell numbers from B2 and B5 as shown below.


 
So you would get the sum from cells B2 to B5 as shown below.
 



6. Similarly, you can add other functions according to your need.
​
 

 
7. Writer also lets you format results, from rounding-off to formatting decimal places. So regardless of the data format, you can use table formulas to have custom formats in the results. So if the table cells all have numbers with two decimals, you can round off the result to have 0 decimals as shown below.

To do this, go to Formula Settings, and select 0 from the Number Format drop down. Similarly, you can choose other number formats of your choice as well. 




Click here to learn more about using Table Formulas. 



Happy writing!




Found this helpful? Subscribe to  Writer Community  for more tips and tricks.


 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 





      • Sticky Posts

      • 8 Neat Tricks in Writer You Should Know About

        Want to get the most out of Writer and speed up your work? You've come to the right place. We've compiled some productive shortcuts in Writer that can help you get work done more quickly: 1. Look up synonyms   No more need for a bulky thesaurus! Use Writer's synonym suggestions to explore different word choices, and find the one that fits your style and tone the best. All you have to do is right-click on a word, and select Synonyms from the dropdown list.  2. Insert images, tables and more   Typing

      • Tip #26: Filter your records before merging a document

        Tom is an HR executive who has to send onboarding emails every month to newly joined employees. He has a master spreadsheet with all the employee details, and new employees are added to them as they join. It's the month of March and Tom has to send onboarding emails to employees who've joined this month. But, how is Tom going to go through a big spreadsheet with multiple new and past information, and send onboarding emails to the set of newly joined employees?     Simple, by filtering and merging

      • Tip: #11 Collaboratively fill documents with your colleagues and clients

        Last week we talked about how Fillable Fields can help you create contracts and proposal templates you can repurpose across your processes. This week, we'll talk in detail about how to collaboratively fill those templates with your clients and team.    Say you've entered into a contract with multiple clients but the final contract amount is still under negotiation. Using fillable fields, partners can quote their contract fee directly in the template document without affecting other areas of the document. You

      • Tip #07: Five best defaults in Writer you can change to complement the way you work

        Find yourself adjusting settings to the way you like every time you create a new document? Try tweaking the default settings instead.  From font styles to auto correct options and more, here are the five best defaults settings you can control.   1. Default font style   Use your favorite typography across all your documents. You can customize a font style by adding a color, adjusting its size and more, and then set it as default.    To do this, go to More Options > Format > Font. Choose a font style

      • Tip #06: Make the best use of Zia in Writer

        About to share your work with your team? Looking to get a second opinion quickly before that? Let Zia do it.    Zia, Zoho's AI-powered intelligent assistant is now part of Writer. She's trained to check and polish your work. She doesn't just read, she understands. So apart from grammar and spelling checks, she'll let you know when you've used a wrong adjective, or have missed out words based on the context of your piece.   Every time you write, Zia makes a scorecard after carefully assessing your