How to Calculate a Running Total in Excel

Track a cumulative total day by day with an expanding SUM range — plus running totals as of a date and by category.

You will learn to

• Build an expanding range with a locked start cell
• Find the total raised up to any date
• Keep a running total for one category only

How it works

A running total (cumulative sum) shows how much has built up so far on each row — money raised to date, units shipped this month, hours logged on a project. The trick is an expanding range: =SUM($B$2:B2). The start is locked with dollar signs, the end is relative, so when you fill the formula down it becomes $B$2:B3, $B$2:B4 and so on.

To get the cumulative total as of any date without a helper column, use SUMIFS with a "<=" date criterion: =SUMIFS(B2:B11,A2:A11,"<="&H2). Add a second condition to keep a separate running total for one category, such as online donations only.

=SUM($B$2:B6)