Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Counting with Formulas.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 1, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
If you are working with a data table that has a limited number of categories by which you want a count, you can use the COUNTIF worksheet function to do your work. For instance, you may have a data table that has two columns. Column A could be names of customers and Column B could be names of sales representatives. There are only half a dozen sales representatives, but scores of customers.
In Column E, list the names of your sales reps, one rep per row. (If you have only a half dozen sales reps, you should have only six rows filled out.) Begin in Row 2, since E1 will probably be used for the column name, such as "Sales Rep." The sales rep names should be spelled exactly as they appear in the data table.
In Column F, beside the first sales rep, enter the following formula:
=COUNTIF($A$2:$B$200,"="&$E2)
Make sure you replace $A$2:$B$200 with the actual range of your original data table. (You could use a named range, if desired.)
Copy this formula (cell F2) into the other five rows of Column F (cells F3:F7), right beside each sales rep's name.
That's it! The information in Column F represents the number of customers for each sales rep.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2159) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Counting with Formulas.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
When you are working with sequenced values in a list, you'll often want to take some action based on the top X or bottom ...
Discover MoreNeed to find a median value in a series of values? It's easy with the MEDIAN function. What isn't as easy is to derive ...
Discover MoreExcel is used by many people to hold all sorts of data, not just numbers. If you have cells that include meaningful ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here:
Comments