COUNT Function in Google Sheets: Explained

In this article, you will learn how to use the COUNT function in Google Sheets. The COUNT function is easy to use and helpful when you need to count the number of numeric values in Google Sheets.

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How to use the COUNT function in Google Sheets

1. Type “=COUNT(” or go to “Insert” → “Function” (or directly navigate to the “Functions” icon)  → “Statistical” → “COUNT”.
2. Select a range or an array containing numerical values whose numbers you want to count.
3. Press the “Enter” key.

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The general syntax is as follows:

=COUNT(value1, [value2, …])

Value1: This argument should be a cell, range, or array.

Value2: If you need to select other ranges, you can add as value2, value3, ….

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Note

1. The COUNT function counts the number of all numeric values in a selected range, even when a specific value appears more than once in a data set.
2. The formula counts dates and times as numeric values.
3. The function does not count the number of text values and blanks - they are ignored.
4. Ensure all values you want to count as numerical ones don’t have hidden text such as “‘“, or an apostrophe. For example, if a cell input is “‘7”, it looks like “7”.

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Assume you are a manager in an HR group and want to see how many valid (numerical) answers you get for a survey on a newly introduced communication tool. As you can see, the formula returns eight because, out of ten survey results, two results are “N/A”, text values which this formula doesn’t count.

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What is the difference between the COUNT and COUNTA functions in Google Sheets?

COUNTA stands for “count all”.The difference is that the COUNTA counts everything, including numbers, texts, dates, and times whereas COUNT counts only numeric values, including dates and times. They are in common that they don’t count the number of blank cells.