Spyridon Pikoulas

ColorSum formulas not updating after a color change?

Changing a cell’s fill or text color does not change its value. Google Sheets™ therefore does not recalculate a ColorSum formula just because you recolored its source cells. Refresh the formulas, or enable ColorSum’s optional automatic refresh for this spreadsheet.

Refresh the formulas now

  1. Open Extensions > ColorSum > Open ColorSum in the spreadsheet containing the formulas.
  2. Click Refresh color formulas in the sidebar. You can also choose Extensions > ColorSum > Refresh color formulas from the menu.
  3. Check the formula results after they recalculate. This refresh covers ColorSum formulas throughout the spreadsheet, including fill-color and text-color formulas.

For a sidebar summary rather than a formula, select the cells and click Count the selected cells again. Refreshing formulas does not recount that summary.

Value changes and color changes are different

Use ordinary cell references in ColorSum formulas. For example:

=SUMBYCOLOR(A2:A50, "#f4cccc", C2:C50)

This sums the amounts in C where the corresponding A cells have that manually applied fill. An edit to a referenced amount in C can trigger recalculation; repainting A does not change the arguments’ values. Google’s custom-function documentation explains why referenced cells and ranges must be passed directly. Keep A2:A50 and C2:C50 as references, without quotation marks.

If you copied a separate Apps Script function from a tutorial, follow that script’s own refresh instructions. ColorSum’s refresh action is for ColorSum formulas. Our count-and-sum guide also includes a free script and its refresh setup.

Refresh automatically after recoloring

In the ColorSum sidebar, tick Refresh them when a color changes (Pro). ColorSum creates the change trigger for your Google account in this spreadsheet; you do not need to configure Apps Script yourself. Untick it to remove your ColorSum automatic-refresh trigger here.

The trigger responds to formatting changes, including font and border changes, rather than running on a timer. Google’s change-event reference lists FORMAT among the change types. Automatic refresh requires Pro; you can still use the manual refresh action when you prefer to control when formulas recalculate.

If conditional formatting supplies the color

ColorSum’s supported workflow is manually applied fill or text colors. If a rule turns cells green when their status is Paid, count that status with COUNTIF, or total its amounts with SUMIF, instead of reading the green appearance. These native formulas need no add-on.

See the worked conditional-formatting example, or Google’s COUNTIF and SUMIF documentation.

If a formula displays a Pro-access error, open ColorSum in that spreadsheet and check your plan, then refresh its formulas. ColorSum Pro is $9 once per Google account for formulas, automatic refresh and unlimited counts. The free sidebar allows 10 counts a day. Formulas need a successful purchase check in each spreadsheet at least every 30 days. Open ColorSum or click Refresh color formulas if asked; reopening the spreadsheet alone does not renew the check, and a billing outage cannot extend it. Existing subscriptions and trials keep their original renewal and cancellation terms; a one-time purchase becomes available after that entitlement ends and does not cancel recurring billing. See ColorSum and its current plans.