How do I count the total number of cells that contain a date in a column in Numbers on macOS?

What else is in the column other than dates? Are the cells without dates empty/blank? If so you can use COUNT to count cells that have numbers or dates in them

=COUNT(A) will count all cells in column A that contain numbers or dates, ignoring cells with text.

If this doesn't apply to your problem, post a screenshot of the column. Using COUNTIF and REGEX together might be another option but it depends on how your dates are formatted and what else is in the column other than dates

Hi sharp,

Try this with a copy of your Numbers document.

Select all the Body cells in column B and Format Panel > Cell Data Format > Date & Time.

Choose Time None.

Numbers will convert anything that resembles a Date to Date & Time format.

Numbers will leave anything that does not resemble a Date in its original format.

Now use the FIND function to find something that is unique in a Date. I used slash.

Formula in C2 and fill down is IFERROR(FIND("/",B2),0)

Formula in Footer cell C11 is COUNTIF(C,">0")

Note that B9 does not contain a slash, so it is not counted.

No problem. Select all the Body cells in column B and Format Panel > Cell Data Format > Date & Time > choose a Date format that displays a slash. Numbers will not mess with the cells that are not a Date.

B9 is now counted. There are 3 dates in B.

The charm of Numbers!

Regards,

Ian.

Edit: sorry the footer cell does not SUM (my screen shots). It uses COUNTIF

Ian.

You are probably tired of trying to figure this out but...

1. Create a new column G next to F
2. In G2 put the formula =COUNT(F2) (I am assuming this is your first data row)
3. Copy/paste or fill down to the rest of the rows
4. The rows that are getting counted will be 1's and those not counted will be 0's.

Are any incorrect? Put =SUM(G) in a cell somewhere to get the count/sum. It should be the same result as you got counting the entire column F using COUNT(F)

It's possible that seeing your work would give us some clues. If it wouldn't give away any personal information, you could capture a screen shot and include it here. We may be able to spot something.

Shift-Command-4, then drag a selection rectangle. Copy the resulting image and Paste here.

Jerry

Here's a solution that doesn't depend on doing anything to the data. All Dates must be of the same format, or at least an acceptable for the OS. Different date formats will remain as entered if format is Automatic.

Count expression is: =COUNTIF(C, "<>0")

Jerry

COUNTA will count all non-blank cells. If a cell has a non-visible character in it such as a space (whether typed in yourself or the result of a formula) or even a null string "", COUNTA will count it. But you wanted to count dates so why use COUNTA, which will include text and null strings, rather than COUNT which will not include those things?

If COUNT of column F goes to zero, one likely cause is that column F is not actually currency. A number (or currency) can be formatted as text and will be treated as text. If a cell is formatted as automatic, text justifies naturally to the left of the cell while numeric data and dates justify to the right, assuming no adjustment have been made to the justification. If the column is formatted as "automatic", format it as currency. If the format does not stick for all cells then those cells are not currency.

Often people use unnecessary/improper quotes around numbers in formulas. =IF(A1=5,"$1.00",1.00) will result in a text representation of $1.00 if A1=5. Otherwise it will result in the number 1.00, which you can turn into $1.00 by formatting the cell as currency.

Sharp,

Basic troubleshooting would have you select the cell with the "Count" expression in it and see which other cells are highlighted, indicating that they are the subject of a function in that cell. Make sure there are no unintended targets, and no omitted targets.

Jerry