Tips on How to Count Words in Excel

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How do you count words in Excel when there is no Word Count feature here like in MS Word? Find out how in this article. Check additional information about Count words in excel.

Excel is an easy to use software application where you can enter numbers, create tables, charts and many more. You will not find it a difficult task to do some computing here because everything is just so simple. The problem here is that there is no word count unlike in MS Word where there is this built in feature where you can just get the total number of words, paragraphs, lines and characters with just some clicks. Does this mean that you have to manually count words in Excel? The answer is no - a definite no. Actually, there are several methods that allow you to count the number of words in the spreadsheet.

The first one is through the use of formulas. You do not have to go out of Excel but you should have a good knowledge about entering formulas in the application. There are formulas that allow you to get the total number of the character's occurence in a particular cell, a text string in a range of cells or words separated by a character in a certain cell. So let us say that you would like to get the exact number of words in a range of cells. For Mac users, what you have to do here is to enter the this formula: =SUM(LEN()-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(,"text","")))/LEN("text"). The here is the specific cell range that you are targeting and the text here should be replaced by the exact text string that you would like to count. Take note that the formula that has been given above should be keyed in as an array formula. In this case, you have to press the COMMAND+RETURN key on the keyboard.

If you are not comfortable with formulas, you can just create a simple Visual Basic macro. There are numerous tutorials on how you can create one for yourself that allows you to perform an Excel word count. On the other hand, if you do not like formulas or creating macros, you can do this the easy way. What you need is a character counter for Excel. If you need to find the number of words in Excel, you can just look for a word counter. Typically, you will be able to obtain character counters can perform word count in the spreadsheets. Just make sure that you know the features and the limitations of the product that you will be using. This way, you can easily start and finish your task.

If you are doubtful about the character counter for Excel or that you just do not want to download another program, there is another trick that you can use. What you have to do is to open the .xls file that you want to get the word count and then save it in Unicode text format. To do this, just enter the filename and then give it a .txt extension. Then, you can open the file in Word where you can access the word count function. This is the easiest one since you do not have to download anything or use a code that can count words in Excel.

If you are interested in Count words in excel, check this link to find out more about Excel word count. Also, you can check other articles in BSC in Excel category.

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