Counting cells please help!

[staceyjkelly]

I have a really easy question but I am not sure how best to do this...I literally need to count a number of cells..not the value that is in the cells as it is just text. However there are some cells with no text in that I do not want to be counted. Is there a simple formula I can use to count cells with just text in please, and to avoid the cells with no text? Many thanks for any help with this!!

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

Like this?

=COUNTIF(A:A,A1)

 

[staceyjkelly]

Hi I think I know what you mean...in your example you have 3 cells with the name mark so i would like it to count mark as 3, sally as 4 (as she has 4 cells with her name in) and so on for each name...how do i do this without making a number of formulas for each name? thank you

 

[staceyjkelly]

Hi I tried the countif eg. for the name mark....i tried to put the criteria would be the formula picks up this name but it didnt work. Basically I am useless at excel, and need a simple formula to count cells that say individual names e.g. if i have 8 cells with the name mark in i want a quick formula to say the count is 8, but also want to use this same formula to count different names and how many cells have their name in too..eg if julie appeared 80 times how would i apply the same formula to pick up mark and julia's names indivdually and count that julia had 80 cells with her name in, mark with 5 and so on for different names? thanks for any help...i do need step by step guidance as i dont really understand just forumlas alone.

 

[staceyjkelly]

or this?

Excel Workbook
	H	I	J
29	mark	mark	3
30	sally	sally	4
31	sally	mike	1
32	mark	tanya	1
33	mark	pete	3
34	mike
35	pete	Total	12
36	pete
37	sally
38	pete
39
40	sally
41
42	tanya
43
Sheet1

Excel Workbook
	J
35	12
Sheet1

Hi I tried the countif eg. for the name mark....i tried to put the criteria would be the formula picks up this name but it didnt work. Basically I am useless at excel, and need a simple formula to count cells that say individual names e.g. if i have 8 cells with the name mark in i want a quick formula to say the count is 8, but also want to use this same formula to count different names and how many cells have their name in too..eg if julie appeared 80 times how would i apply the same formula to pick up mark and julia's names indivdually and count that julia had 80 cells with her name in, mark with 5 and so on for different names? thanks for any help...i do need step by step guidance as i dont really understand just forumlas alone.

 

[scottylad2]

do you have a unique list of name? one thats in a list somewhere thet you can refer to? if you can produce a list similar to the one i posted, you would only need to enter that formula once. Say your main list of mixed names and blank spaces is in A1:A20 and you have within that list 5 unique names like the one I have, then in B1 you would type =Countif(A$1:A$20,A1) and drag that formula down your list of 5 names and you'll get the same result I did.