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 Only Money Winners.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 4, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Chuck has a worksheet with prize monies to be awarded to the eighty players in his golf league. Each row represents a player, and each column represents the winners of each of the five tournaments held in the season. The sixth column contains a simple formula summing the winnings shown on each row. At the bottom of this sixth column Chuck wants to enter a function that would count the number of players actually receiving monetary awards.
There are several ways you can put together such a formula. You might be tempted to use the COUNTA function, but it won't work. The purpose of COUNTA is to count all the cells that are not empty. This means it will also count cells containing a zero value; they are not empty either.
You could use the SUMPRODUCT function in the following manner:
=SUMPRODUCT((G1:G80>0)*1)
This formula just checks if a cell is greater than zero. If it is, then the True value is multiplied by 1 resulting in a value of 1. If it is False, then the False value multiplied by 1 is 0. The sum of all these values (1 and 0) is then calculated, resulting in a count as desired.
Perhaps the easiest approach, however, is to use the COUNTIF function. This function performs a count only if a particular criterion is met:
=COUNTIF(G1:G80,">0")
In this case, the count only occurs if a cell is greater than zero.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2421) 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 Only Money Winners.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!
When you've got a column full of names, you may want to get a count of how many of those names are unique. You can make ...
Discover MoreNeed to calculate a running average for the last twelve values in a constantly changing range of values? The formula ...
Discover MoreIt is not uncommon to reuse formulas in a variety of workbooks. If you develop some "gotta keep" formulas, here are some ...
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 © 2026 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