Using COUNTIF and COUNTIFS in Microsoft Excel
Most Excel users have encountered the COUNT function which is available via the AutoSum tool. This article looks at the clever cousins of the COUNT function: COUNTIF and COUNTIFs. The COUNTIF function is used to count the number of cells in a given range which satisfy a condition. COUNTIFS does the same. However, here, we can specify multiple criteria. For example, let’s say we have a worksheet containing four columns: the date, the number of phone calls received, the number of complaints and the percentage of calls which were actually complaints.
We now want to create a summary worksheet to calculate the number of days where the percentage of calls that were complaints is, firstly, under 5%; secondly, between five and 10% and, thirdly, over 10%.
To find those days where we have fewer than 5% or more than 10%, we can use COUNTIF function because we are dealing with a simple condition: less than 5% or greater than 10%. However, to find those days where we had between 5% and 10%, we will lead multiple criteria; firstly, greater than or equal to five and, secondly, less than or equal to 10. Because of this, we will need the COUNTIFS function.
When creating formulas it is always useful to name the cells are you are referencing. To have Excel create the names for you automatically, select all of your data, including the column headings then, in the Formulas Tab of the Excel Ribbon, click on Create from Selection. Activate the option “Create names from values in the Top Row” and click OK. Let’s say that the heading at the top of the fourth column (the one containing the percentage of calls which were actually complaints) is “Percentage”, this will be the name that we will use in our COUNTIF formulas.
Next, we can switch to the Summary worksheet and click in the cell where we want to calculate the total number of days where less than 5% of our calls were complaints. Here we would enter the formula =COUNTIF(Percentage,”<5″). Notice that, when using COUNTIF and COUNTIFS, all criteria must be surrounded by quotation marks.
In a similar way, to calculate the total number of days where more than 10% of our calls were complaints, we would use the formula =COUNTIF(Percentage,”>10″).
Finally, to calculate the total number of days where between 5 and 10% of our calls were complaints, we would use the formula =COUNTIFS(Percentage,”>=5″,Percentage,”<=10″). The COUNTIFS function allows you to repeat the two arguments used with the COUNTIF function (criteria range and criteria) up to 127 times. Thus, in our example, criteria range 1 is Percentage; criteria 1 is “>=5″; criteria range 2 is also Percentage; and criteria 2 is “<=10″.
The author is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering Microsoft Excel 2007 Training Courses in London in London and throughout the UK.
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