Excel ’ s COUNTIF function is a tool for counting cells that meet specific criteria, streamlining data analysis for tasks like tracking metrics or filtering results. The function, with its simple syntax COUNTIF (range, criteria), counts cells in a specified range based on conditions like text, numbers, or dates. The COUNTIF Formula in Excel is an inbuilt function , so we can directly enter the formula in the cell or select it from the “ Function Library ”. The following image shows the values in Column A. Enter the formula , = COUNTIF (A2:A5,“A”) in cell B2, to count the cells having “ A ” in the cell range A2:A5. The Excel COUNTIF function returns the count of cells in a range that meet a single condition. The generic syntax is COUNTIF (range, criteria), where "range" contains the cells to count , and "criteria" is a condition that must be true for a cell to be counted. COUNTIF can be used to count cells that contain dates, numbers, and text. Criteria can include logical operators (>, Learn how to use COUNTIF , COUNTIFS and FILTER functions to count cells that meet multiple criteria in Excel . See examples of OR, AND and combined logic, as well as tips and tricks for different scenarios.