COUNTA
Counts non-empty cells with any content: how many form fields are filled in, how many rows a customer list has.
COUNTA(value1, [value2], ...)- [ ]optional part
- value1
- The first cell or range in which to count filled cells.
- value2
- More cells or ranges, separated by commas. Optional.Optional
Return value
The number of non-empty cells: with numbers, text, dates and errors.
Examples
How many contact fields are filled
fx
A
B
C
D
E
F
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Client
Email
Phone
City
Filled
Acme Corp
info@acme.com
555-0142
Boston
Smith Consulting
smith@mail.com
Denver
Vector Inc
Austin
Progress LLC
office@progress.com
555-0187
Sheet1
Details
COUNTA counts everything that isn’t empty: numbers, text, dates, errors. It skips only truly empty cells.
It’s handy for finding the length of a list: =COUNTA(A2:A100) shows how many names are in the column.
Common mistakes
- A cell with a space looks empty, but COUNTA counts it.
- A formula that returns an empty string "" also makes the cell non-empty for COUNTA.
- COUNTA and COUNT get mixed up: COUNT counts only numbers, COUNTA counts everything.