Count Cells with Text in Excel

 

This page illustrates multiple ways to count cells with text in Excel. Visit our page about the COUNTIF function to count cells that contain specific text.

1a. Use the COUNTIF function and the asterisk symbol (*) to count cells with text.

Count Cells with Text

1b. You can also create an array formula to count cells with text.

Array Formula

Note: visit our page about array formulas to learn more about single cell array formulas.

1c. You can also use the SUMPRODUCT function to count cells with text.

SUMPRODUCT function

Note: visit our page about the SUMPRODUCT function to learn more about this function.

2a. Numbers, Booleans (TRUE or FALSE), blanks and errors are not counted as text.

Numbers, Booleans, Blanks and Errors are Not Counted as Text

2b. The formula below counts cells with text and counts cells with Booleans.

Count Cells with Text and Count Booleans

3a. Enter a space into cell A4. The COUNTIF function at step 1a and step 2a also counts cells with a space character.

Space Included

3b. The COUNTIFS function below counts cells with text and excludes cells with a space character.

Count Cells with Text and Exclude Cells with a Space Character

Note: the COUNTIFS function in Excel counts cells based on two or more criteria.