Summary count of non-blank categories

Excel allows a user to create a summary count of non-blank categories using the COUNTIFS function. This step by step tutorial will assist all levels of Excel users in creating a summary count of non-blank categories.

Figure 1. The result of the COUNTIFS function

Syntax of the COUNTIFS Formula

The generic formula for the COUNTIFS function is:

=COUNTIFS(criteria_range1, criteria1, criteria_range2, criteria2, ... )

The parameters of the COUNTIFS function are:

• criteria_range1, criteria_range2 – ranges where we want to apply our criteria
• criteria1, criteria2 – a criteria in criteria ranges which we want to count.

Setting up Our Data for the COUNTIFS Function

Figure 2. Data that we will use in the COUNTIFS example

In the first data table, we have 3 columns: “Product” (column B), “Date” (column C) and “Sales Amount” (column D). In the summary table (F2:G5), we want to count days with sales for each product.

Create a Summary Count of Non-blank Categories with the COUNTIFS table

In our example, we want to count for each product days with sales (where sales amount is not blank). Therefore, the first criteria will be a product and the second sales amount different than blank.

The formula looks like:

=COUNTIFS($B$3:$B$20, F3, $D$3:$D$20, "<>")

The parameter criteria_range1 is $B$3:$B$20 and the criteria1 is in the cell F3. The parameter criteria_range2 is $D$3:$D$20 and the criteria2 is “<>”.

We must fix both criteria ranges, as they are not changing when we copy the formula across the cells. For criteria1 we must fix the column, as only the row is changing.

To apply the COUNTIFS function, we need to follow these steps:

• Select cell G3 and click on it
• Insert the formula: =COUNTIFS($B$3:$B$20, F3, $D$3:$D$20, "<>")
• Press enter
• Drag the formula down to the other cells in the row by clicking and dragging the little “+” icon at the bottom-right of the cell to the right.

Figure 3. Creating the summary count of non-blank categories with the COUNTIFS

For Product A, there are 3 days with Sales amount (1/7/2019, 1/9/2019 and 1/12/2019). Therefore, the result in the cell G3 is 3.

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