Calculating current selection

Sometimes it is useful to see the results of calculations as you work in a spreadsheet but without having these results inserted into the spreadsheet itself. To this end Ability provides a status bar box called Autocalc, in which calculations can be performed automatically on any range of values that is currently selected.

To activate Autocalc right-click on the right most box on the status bar. A menu will appear with functions for Count, Sum, Average, Max and Min. Click on the function you require. This function will be active until you choose another one. Select the range of cells to which you want to apply the function. The result of the calculation will appear in the Autocalc box. To apply another function right click on the box again and click on another function to make it the active one. To switch off Autocalc click on None.

For example, to perform the full set of automatic calculations on values in the range A1..D10, you should first select the range and then activate Autocalc. Selecting the available functions one by one will tell you how many non-empty cells there are in the range and the sum, average, maximum and minimum of the values. To apply the currently selected function to another range, just select that range.