Discussion on:

Counting items in an Excel list

Excel tip : nice, but is there a typo in this

"At this point, all that's left is to compose a formula that counts the number of times the entries in column B appear in column C."

Should the end of the sentance be "Column A"?

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Counting tip - Why the sort: Why did the list have to be sorted? We couldn't have used both the formulas (unique and Countif) on an unsorted list...Oh I think I see now. The filter must be applied to a sorted list.

William

Excel Tips: Neat tip on using the 'unique records'. However, I would suggest that sorting really isn't necessary, if you use a 'static' definition of the range for COUNTIF. First, instead of using '=Countif(A2:A21,B2)' you use '=Countif(A$2:A$21,B2)'. Then, when you copy from cell C2 to the other cells, these other cells will contain '=Countif(A$2:A$21,B3)', '=Countif(A$2:A$21,B4)', and so on instead of '=Countif(A3:A22,B3)', '=Countif(A4:A23,B4)', and so on.
- John Selvage

Excel List Count: This is a neat way to get the count, however it would be easier to use subtotals on the data pull down menu. You will still need to sort the data or Excel will give a subtotal after each zipcode change.

Pivot Table: A very clever way to get counts on one column. However, if you want to also count a second element (such as gender within the zip code), the Pivot Table Report wizard (under Data) will be much easier. In this case, you can also add a column called "Count" and copy the column header to all the cells in that column and use the Pivot Table to do the counting.

The sort is not necessary: Sorting the list might make it look better, but the entire tip works just as well without sorting the list. The Advanced Filter doesn't require the list to be sorted, and neither does the Countif function.

How about Subtotals with the Data List feature?: It seems that it would be easier to sort the list and then use the subtotal feature from the Data list to get the counts here. Less steps and easier to remember.

list helped me out heaps and saved me lots of time. I adapted it to my needs.

You can use Zip Decoder and it will count and sort, but will identify city, county, state and even make a map.