Excel COUNTIF Function Step by Step Tutorial

By Ted French, About.com Guide

Adding the Search Criteria

The last step in the tutorial is to add the criteria we want the function to match.

In this case we want the number of Sales Reps with more than 250 orders for the year.

To do this we enter > 250 into D12 - the cell identified in the function as containing the criteria argument.

Tutorial Steps

For help with these instructions, see the image above.

1. In cell D12 type > 250 and press the Enter key on the keyboard.


2. The number 4 should appear in cell E12.


3. The criterion of " > 250 " is met in four cells in column E: E4, E5, E8, E9. Therefore these are the only cells counted by the function.


4. When you click on cell E12, the complete function
   =COUNTIF (E3:E9, D12) appears in the formula bar above the worksheet.

• How the COUNTIF Function Works
• Entering the Tutorial Data
• The COUNTIF Function's Syntax
• Starting the COUNTIF Function
• Entering the Range Argument
• Entering the Criteria Argument
• Adding the Search Criteria