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Counting Blank or Empty Cells in Excel

Excel COUNTBLANK function

By Ted French Ted French Writer Former Lifewire writer Ted French is a Microsoft Certified Professional who teaches and writes about spreadsheets and spreadsheet programs. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on November 3, 2019 Tweet Share Email Ted French / Lifewire Tweet Share Email MS Office Excel Word Powerpoint Outlook Excel offers several count functions that quantify the number of cells in a selected range that contain a specific type of data. The job of the COUNTBLANK function is to count the number of cells in a selected range that either contains no data or contains a formula that returns a blank or null value

Syntax and Arguments

A function's syntax refers to the layout of the function and includes the function's name, brackets, comma separators, and arguments. The syntax for the COUNTBLANK function is: =COUNTBLANK(range)
The range, which is a required argument, is the group of cells the function must search. The range argument must be a contiguous group of cells. Since COUNTBLANK does not permit multiple ranges to be entered for the range argument, several instances of the function may be entered in a single formula to find the number of blank or empty cells in two or more non-contiguous ranges. For example: =COUNTBLANK(A2:A10) + COUNTBLANK(B2:B10)

Alternative Using CountIf

Excel supports more than one way to arrive at your intended, correct answer. For example, the formula =COUNTIF(A2:A10,"")
uses the COUNTIF function to find the number of blank or empty cells in the range A2 to A10 and gives the same results as COUNTBLANK. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Count Blank or Empty Cells in Google Sheets How to Use the ISBLANK Function in Excel How to Use the Google Spreadsheets AVERAGE Function How to Round Numbers Down in Excel With the ROUNDDOWN Function How to Use a Dynamic Range in Excel With COUNTIF and INDIRECT How to Combine the ROUND and SUM Functions in Excel How to Count Data in Selected Cells With Excel's COUNTIF Function How to Use the Round Function in Excel Use Excel's EOMONTH Function to Add or Subtract Months Round up Numbers in Excel With the ROUNDUP Function Excel SUMIFS: Sum Only Values Meeting Multiple Criteria Count Cells of Data With Excel's SUMPRODUCT Function How to Use Excel's MROUND Function How to Calculate Weighted Averages in Excel With SUMPRODUCT How to Use the Excel TRUNC Function How to Use AVERAGEIF Function in Excel Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies