Excel COUNTA Function

The powerful Excel COUNTA Function stands for the count all. The function counts not only empty text, “ ”, text and numbers but also logical/error values. Look at the easy to follow COUNTA examples.

Formula

=COUNTA(my_Arg1,[my_Arg2],...)

Example 1

How to count cells with text using Excel COUNTA Function in a range of cells.

1.    Click C9
2.    Type =COUNTA(C4:C8)
3.    Press enter

NOTE: Cell C6 is blank

Figure 1. Example 1 of Excel COUNTA Function counting non-blank cell

Example 2

1.    Select D9
2.    Enter =COUNTA(D4:D8,"ipad","Android Tablets")

In the example below a user can combine the range and value arguments within the Excel COUNTA Function.

Figure 2. Example 2 combines range and values in the arguments

Explanation

The Excel COUNTA Function counts non-blank cells in a range. The Excel COUNTA Function returns a numeric value representing non-blank cells. It is a worksheet function in the statistical category. Besides, it is inbuilt into Excel. In the three examples, we explore the use of Excel COUNTA Function.

Let’s look at example 2 of the COUNTA function. When we modify the first function to include the range (D4:D8) having 3 values (99,88,14) it then adds two more values “ipad” and “Android Tablets” and the error value (#DIV!) to make a total of 6.

Tips

• When COUNTA detects a blank cell it will return (0)
• Use no more than 255 arguments in the Excel COUNTA Function