Counta vs count function in excel

This short tutorial explains the basics of the Excel COUNT and COUNTA functions and shows a few examples of using a count formula in Excel.

You will also learn how to use the COUNTIF and COUNTIFS functions to count cells that meet one or more criteria.

As everyone knows, Excel is all about storing and crunching numbers.

Counta with criteria

However, apart from calculating values, you may also need to count cells with values - with any value, or with specific value types. For example, you may want a quick count of all items in a list, or the total of inventory numbers in a selected range.

Microsoft Excel provides a couple of special functions for counting cells: COUNT and COUNTA.

Both all very straightforward and easy-to-use. So let's take a quick look at these essential functions first, and then I will show you a few Excel formulas to count cells that meet certain condition(s), and clue you in on the quirks in counting some value types.

Excel COUNT function - count cells with numbers

You use the COUNT function in Excel to count the number of cell

counta formula in excel meaning

counta formula in excel definition