Character Count

In this tutorial, I will be showing you how to count characters in a worksheet in excel. The is slightly different compare to Ms-Word, so please kindly follow the simple steps below to learn how to count characters in excel today.

• HOW TO COUNT CHARACTERS
• Step 1 - For this tutorial section I will be using the data as seen in the image below. You can create similar, and edit it like my own if you want.

• Step 2 - Click the cell where the character count will be displayed. Then click on the Formulas tab, go to the Function Library group and click on the Insert Function command.

• Step 3 - An alternative to the step above, is to simply click on the insert function symbol in the beside the formula input bar

• Step 4 - The Insert Function dialog box will be displayed. Also notice that an equals to sign has been automatically added to the selected cell for the character count display.

• Step 5 - In the search, inside the function input field, type in LEN and click the GO button. As the LEN is already selected in the Select a function list, click the OK button to take you to the next dialog box (Function Arguments).

• Step 6 - In the function arguments dialog box, enter the cell address that contains the characters that you want to count in the text field.

• Step 7 - After entering the cell address in the text field, click on the OK button.

• Step 8 - The character count will be displayed successfully. (In my own case the word SPIDERMAN contains 9 characters as seen in the image below)

• Step 9 - Now instead of following the same process again for the other individual characters, we will be using flash fill. Place your mouse point at the bottom right edge of the cell, notice that a plus sign will be displayed.

• Step 10 - Once the plus sign is displayed, click and drag down to fill the rest of the cells as show in the image below

• Step 11 - The other character counts will be displayed successfully.



NOTE:

Character counts include white spaces. For instance: In my own case, for FAST AND FURIOUS and WOMAN, the spaces in between the words will also be counted

• Step 12 - I hope you have learnt and understand how to count characters, if you are still confused try going back and follow the steps again slowly one by one without skipping any step.

• HOW TO COUNT CHARACTERS (ALTERNATIVE)
• Step 1 - Click on the cell you want the character count to be displayed. Type in =LEN(



NOTE:

Functions can be entered in Proper Case or Uppercase. That is: =LEN( is the same thing as =Len(

• Step 2 - Click on the cell that contains the characters you want to count. Notice its address will be added to the function.

• Step 3 - Now, of getting the character count for just the first one and later using flash fill, simple select all the cells (cell range) as shown in the image below. This will now add the data range to the function.

• Step 4 - Close the parenthesis of the LEN function and press Enter on your keyboard.

• Step 5 - All the character counts will be displayed successfully.

• UPDATNG CHARACTERS
• Step 1 - Update the last cell character as shown in the image below, the press Enter on your keyboard

• Step 2 - The character count will be immediately updated accordingly.

• GETTING TOTAL CHARACTER COUNT
• Step 1 - Now, let get the total character count. At the bottom of the list, type in =SUMPRODUCT(. The SUMPRODUCT function is used to multiply the numbers of two or more arrays and sum up their products.

• Step 2 - Add/Type in LEN( which is used to get the total character count in cells.

• Step 3 - Select the cells containing the characters and the selected cell range will be added to the function immediately.

• Step 4 - Type in the closing LEN parenthesis.

• Step 5 - Type in the closing SUMPRODUCT parenthesis and press Enter on your keyboard.

• Step 6 - The total character count will be inserted successfully.

• Step 7 - You can also use the SUM function to add up the individual word count cells. Simply type in the function, opening parenthesis, the cell addresses and closing parenthesis. Then press Enter on your keyboard.

• Step 8 - The total character count will be inserted successfully. Also, the same with the previous one.