How to Count Non-Empty Records with DCOUNTA in Excel

Use DCOUNTA to count matching records where a field is filled in — names, notes or any text, not just numbers.

You will learn to

• Count matching records by a text field
• Count only records where an optional field is filled
• Add two counts for a headcount

How it works

DCOUNTA counts the matching records where the chosen field is not empty, whatever it contains: names, notes, numbers or text. That makes it the right choice for lists where the useful information is text, such as guest names or dietary requests.

Compare it with DCOUNT, which only counts numbers. Pointing DCOUNTA at an optional column, like a plus-one name, counts only the records where it was filled in — so two DCOUNTAs added together give an event headcount.

=DCOUNTA(A1:E13,"Guest",G1:G2)