Microsoft Excel: The Count Option Of The Autosum Doesn't Appear To Work

You are using the Count option from the dropdown by the AutoSum button on the toolbar. It doesn’t give consistent results. In Fig. 361, cells B11 & C11 both contain a count of the cells in rows 2-10 of each column. 1 function indicates that there are 9 entries; the other has 2. Both have 9 entries.

Strategy: The COUNT function will only count numeric entries. If you need to count all entries, you have to use the COUNTA function. One solution is to edit the formula in B2 and add an A after the T in COUNT. The other method is to enter the formula correctly in the first place.

1) Put the cell pointer in B11. Choose the dropdown arrow next to the AutoSum button. From the list, select More Functions…, as shown in Fig. 362.

2) There are hundreds of functions available. You can never remember if COUNTA is in the Math & Trig section or somewhere else. Type the word “count” in the search box and choose Go, as shown in Fig. 363.

Excel will return a list of all functions related to the COUNT function. A description of the selected function appears below the list, as shown in Fig. 364.

3) You might need to scroll through the list to find the COUNTA function.

As shown in Fig. 365, when you find COUNTA, choose OK.

You will now see the Function Arguments dialog box. Excel has analyzed your data and predicted the range that you want to use. However, Excel is not good at predicting data when the range contains numeric and alphanumeric entries. In this particular case, as shown in Fig. 366, Excel assumes we only want to COUNTA the range B9:B10.

4) If you can see the data on the worksheet, use the mouse and highlight

the correct range, as shown in Fig. 367.

5) Release the mouse. Choose OK in the function arguments dialog to

accept the formula.

Result: As shown in Fig. 368, the COUNTA function returns the proper value.

Summary: The COUNT function does not count text entries in a list. Use the COUNTA function instead.

Functions Discussed: =COUNT(); =COUNTA()

Microsoft Excel: The Count Option Of The Autosum Doesn't Appear To Work

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