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How to Count Cells with Text Values in Microsoft Excel

·2 min read
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Counting cells that contain text values is a fundamental skill in Excel data analysis. Whether you're working with survey responses, product names, or employee records, knowing how many cells contain text can help you quickly assess your dataset.

This tutorial will walk you through using Excel's COUNTIF function with wildcard characters to accurately count all cells containing text values in any range. The process is straightforward and can save you time when analyzing large spreadsheets.

Here's how to count cells with text values in MS Excel

  1. Click on the cell where you want the count result to appear and type the equals sign (=).
  2. Type 'COUNTIF' and select the function from Excel's autocomplete suggestions.
  3. Specify the range of cells you want to analyze for text values.
  4. Add a comma (,) to separate the range from the criteria parameter.
  5. Type the asterisk wildcard "*" in quotes to match any text content.
  6. Close the function with a parenthesis and press Enter to execute the formula.
  7. View the result showing the total count of cells containing text in your selected range.

Your turn to show how it works.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The asterisk (*) is a wildcard character that matches any sequence of characters in Excel. When used in COUNTIF, it tells Excel to count any cell that contains text, regardless of what that text says or how long it is.