Using Countif for dropdown list

Larry of Oz

New Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2020
Messages
15
Office Version
  1. 2016
Platform
  1. Windows
Hello all,

I'm trying to develop my understanding of Excel a bit, and am working on a spreadsheet where I'd like to count text entries contained in three consecutive columns. All text entries in these colums are selected from defined dropdown lists. I originally thought I could use COUNTIF, so tried the following (as an example), which always returned 0 no matter how many times "Future Ready" appeared as an entry.

=COUNTIF(A3:C20,"Future Ready")

After a bit of messing around and Googling I tried combining the COUNTIF with SUM in an array formula like the image below, and it worked perfectly. So with regards to counting text entries in dropdown lists, I can't find any information about why it works this way but not using COUNTIF on it's own. Is anyone able to shed some light on this for me so I know how it works, or in fact, if there's a better way to go about this with regards to dropdown lists?

Thanks so much in advance.

Lauren
1591153293151.png


1591153293151.png
 

Excel Facts

What do {} around a formula in the formula bar mean?
{Formula} means the formula was entered using Ctrl+Shift+Enter signifying an old-style array formula.

Forum statistics

Threads
1,213,536
Messages
6,114,211
Members
448,554
Latest member
Gleisner2

We've detected that you are using an adblocker.

We have a great community of people providing Excel help here, but the hosting costs are enormous. You can help keep this site running by allowing ads on MrExcel.com.
Allow Ads at MrExcel

Which adblocker are you using?

Disable AdBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Pause on this site" option.
Go back

Disable AdBlock Plus

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock Plus

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the toggle to disable it for "mrexcel.com".
Go back

Disable uBlock Origin

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock Origin

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back

Disable uBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back
Back
Top