Word Count

Words counts can be useful in excel in various firms and company. In the previous tutorial we learnt I shown you how to count characters in excel, so on this very tutorial I will also be showing the steps on how to count words in excel.

HOW TO COUNT WORDS
Step 1 - In the tutorial I am going to be using the data in the image below to teach how to count words. Feel free to format you data like mine, or you can simply just type in the plain data in your worksheet and move to Step 2

Step 2 - Click on the cell that you want to display the word count and type in =LEN( as shown in the image below. The LEN function is used to count number of characters (including white spaces)

Step 3 - Add/Type in TRIM(. The trim function is used to normalize all spacing, that is it is used to remove spaces at the begining and ending of words leaving only one space.

Step 4 - Next is to click the cell address that you want to count the words in it. After clicking it, the cell address will be immediately added to the function as shown in the image below.

Step 4 (Alternative) - An alternative is just simply typing the cell address of the cell that contains the words you want to count.

Step 5 - Type in the closing TRIM function parenthesis.

Step 6 - Type in the closing LEN function parenthesis.

What has been done at the left side is that we used LEN funcion to calculate the number of characters while making sure that the spacing are normalized by including the TRIM function

NOTE:

Be careful not to omit any function closing parenthesis because if you do the function will not work.

Step 7 - Add/Type in the minus (-) sign as shown in the image below. Minus sign is used for substration just as in mathematics.

Step 8 - Add/Type in LEN( again as shown in the image below.

Step 9 - Add/Type in SUBSTITUTE(as shown in the image below. The SUBSTITUTE function is used to replace a character with another character inside a string. This function takes three inputs which are: the string, the character you want to remove and the character you want to replace the removed charater with.

Step 10 - Now let's enter the first one which is the string. Click the cell address that you want to count the words in it. After clicking it, the cell address will be immediately added to the function as shown in the image below.

Step 10 (Alternative) - An alternative is just simply typing the cell address of the cell that contains the words you want to count.

Step 11 - Add a comma sign (,). Comma is used to separating values, stings and inputs.

Step 12 - Next is the second input which is the character to be removed. In this case we want to remove the spacing. So, add an opening and closing double quotation marks leaving a space in between them.

Step 13 - Add another comma sign (,)

Step 14 - Next is the third input which is what we want to replace the character with. In this case we want to replace the character with nothing. So, add another opening and closing double quotation marks leaving no spacing in between them.

Step 15 - Type in the closing SUBSTITUTE function parenthesis.

Step 16 - Type in the closing LEN function parenthesis.

Step 17 - Lastly type in the plus sign and the number 1 (that is +1)

What has been done at the right side is that we used LEN function to calculate the number of characters and adding 1 to it, after removing all the spacing using the SUBSTITUTE function
Step 18 - Once you are sure that everything is correct, press the Enter key on your keyboard to display the word count.

Step 19 - Number of words inserted successfully.

Step 20 - Now instead of following the same process again for the other individual cells, 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.