Excel CountA Funtion

CountA - Count Anything except blanks

CountA is a built-in excel function that is categorized as a statistical function. It can also be used as a worksheet function. CountA function is used to count cells containing numbers, texts, logical values, error values, and empty text returned in formulas (“ ”).

Syntax

=CountA (value1, value2,….)

Arguments

• Value1: An Argument / Cell Reference/ Range
• Value2: Optional. An Argument/ Cell Reference/ Range

*Argument is a parameter that is not a cell or a range of cells.

Purpose

To count the number of non-blank cells.

Return Type

Numeric.

Remarks

• It does not count cells that are completely empty.
• If you forgot to mention the arguments in the range, with CountA Function, the arguments can be passed separately in the formula. Ex. =COUNTA(c1:c5, a,b). It will return the sum of non-empty cells between c1 & c5 and 2.
• The major difference between Count and CountA functions is, Count Function counts cells containing numbers but CountA counts all cells that are non-empty. If need arises to count empty cells, use CountBlank function that will count only empty cells.

Concept of Invisible Characters:

Keep in mind that CountA will count the empty cell that actually contains invisible characters (accidentally type a space in a cell) or an empty string returned by (“”) formula. To check this

• Select the range
• Press Ctrl+G 
• Click on SPECIAL one the left bottom
• Select BLANK and ok to check such cells