The COUNT function gives you the tools to count the number of values in a range. Values include numbers, dates and times, percentages and fractions. and formulas that return numbers. Blank cells and text entries are not counted.  The COUNTA function is for counting cells that contain most anything, including those with the COUNT function. COUNTA does not count blank cells.  While text entries are counted, empty text (“”) is not.

COUNT
Simplified syntax:

=COUNT (Range)

COUNTA
Simplified syntax:

=COUNTA (Range )

Example 1:

The COUNT function is used to count the number of SALARY entries, numbers.

The COUNTA function is used to count the number of employees, text entries.

Summary:
COUNT is used to count values which include numbers, dates and times, percentages and fractions. and
formulas that return numbers. Blank cells and text entries are not
counted.  The COUNTA function is for counting cells that contain most
anything, including those with the COUNT function. COUNTA does not count
blank cells.  While text entries are counted, empty text (“”) is not.

Trap:
While a cell may appear to be blank it could contain invisible characters. This usually occur when the data is downloaded from another source. One way to test for this is to use the =COUNTBLANK function.

COUNTIF

COUNTIFS

The technical syntax:
This is the Syntax as presented by Excel. The Simplified Syntax at the top of the page is the “English” version of the Syntax.

=COUNT (value1, [value2], …)

=COUNTA (value1, [value2], …)

Author: Jim Colville

Date: 7/18/1997 – Updated: 9/14/2019