Sometimes, you may want to count the number of cells that fall within a specific month in Excel. For example, you may have a list of dates and you want to know how many of them are in January, February, March, etc. This can be useful for analyzing data by month, such as sales, expenses, orders, etc.
There are different ways to count cells in a month range in Excel, but one of the most common and versatile methods is to use the COUNTIFS function with the EDATE function. In this article, we will explain how this method works, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using it, and how to apply it to a real-life scenario.
The COUNTIFS function allows you to count cells that meet one or more criteria. You can specify the range of cells to count and the criteria to match. For example, you can use COUNTIFS to count cells that are greater than a certain value, equal to a certain text, or between two dates.
The EDATE function returns the serial number of a date that is a specified number of months before or after another date. You can use EDATE to calculate the start or end date of a period, such as a month, a quarter, or a year.
To count cells in a month range, you can use the COUNTIFS function with two criteria: one for the start date of the month, and one for the end date of the month. The start date of the month can be any date within that month, such as the first day, the last day, or any other day. The end date of the month can be calculated by using the EDATE function with the start date and adding one month. For example, if the start date is January 15, 2021, the end date can be obtained by using EDATE(“2021-01-15”,1), which returns February 15, 2021.
The general formula for counting cells in a month range is:
=COUNTIFS(date_range,“>=”&start_date,date_range,“<”&EDATE(start_date,1))
where date_range is the range of cells that contain the dates to count, and start_date is any date within the month to count.
Procedures
To apply the formula for counting cells in a month range, follow these steps:
- Enter the start date of the month to count in a cell, such as C2.
- Enter the formula in another cell, such as D2, and replace date_range with the actual range of cells that contain the dates, such as A2:A20.
- Press Enter to get the result.
- Copy the formula down to other cells if you want to count cells for other months.
Explanation
To illustrate how the formula works, let’s use an example scenario. Suppose you have a list of orders with their dates and amounts in columns A and B, as shown below:
| Order Date | Amount |
|---|---|
| 2021-01-03 | $100 |
| 2021-01-05 | $150 |
| 2021-01-10 | $200 |
| 2021-01-15 | $250 |
| 2021-01-20 | $300 |
| 2021-01-25 | $350 |
| 2021-01-30 | $400 |
| 2021-02-02 | $450 |
| 2021-02-07 | $500 |
| 2021-02-12 | $550 |
| 2021-02-17 | $600 |
| 2021-02-22 | $650 |
| 2021-02-27 | $700 |
| 2021-03-04 | $750 |
| 2021-03-09 | $800 |
| 2021-03-14 | $850 |
| 2021-03-19 | $900 |
| 2021-03-24 | $950 |
| 2021-03-29 | $1000 |
You want to count how many orders were placed in each month of the first quarter of 2021. To do this, you can use the following steps:
- Enter the first day of each month in column C, starting from C2. For example, enter “2021-01-01” in C2, “2021-02-01” in C3, and “2021-03-01” in C4.
- Enter the formula =COUNTIFS(A2:A20,“>=”&C2,A2:A20,“<”&EDATE(C2,1)) in D2, and press Enter. This will count the number of orders in January 2021, based on the dates in A2:A20 and the start date in C2.
- Copy the formula down to D3 and D4 to get the counts for February and March 2021, respectively.
The result should look like this:
| Order Date | Amount | Month | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-03 | $100 | 2021-01-01 | 7 |
| 2021-01-05 | $150 | 2021-02-01 | 6 |
| 2021-01-10 | $200 | 2021-03-01 | 6 |
| 2021-01-15 | $250 | ||
| 2021-01-20 | $300 | ||
| 2021-01-25 | $350 | ||
| 2021-01-30 | $400 | ||
| 2021-02-02 | $450 | ||
| 2021-02-07 | $500 | ||
| 2021-02-12 | $550 | ||
| 2021-02-17 | $600 | ||
| 2021-02-22 | $650 | ||
| 2021-02-27 | $700 | ||
| 2021-03-04 | $750 | ||
| 2021-03-09 | $800 | ||
| 2021-03-14 | $850 | ||
| 2021-03-19 | $900 | ||
| 2021-03-24 | $950 | ||
| 2021-03-29 | $1000 |
As you can see, the formula counts the number of orders that have a date greater than or equal to the start date of the month, and less than the start date of the next month. For example, for January 2021, the formula counts the orders that have a date between “2021-01-01” and “2021-02-01”, which are 7 orders. For February 2021, the formula counts the orders that have a date between “2021-02-01” and “2021-03-01”, which are 6 orders. And so on.
Other Approaches
Besides using the COUNTIFS and EDATE functions, there are other ways to count cells in a month range in Excel. Here are some of them:
- You can use the SUMPRODUCT and MONTH functions to count cells that have a specific month number. For example, to count the orders in January 2021, you can use the formula =SUMPRODUCT(1*(MONTH(A2:A20)=1)). This formula counts the cells that have a month number of 1, which corresponds to January. However, this method does not account for the year, so it may count cells from different years that have the same month number.
- You can use the DATEDIF function to count the number of months between two dates. For example, to count the orders in January 2021, you can use the formula =DATEDIF(“2021-01-01”,“2021-02-01”,“M”). This formula returns the number of months between the first day of January 2021 and the first day of February 2021, which is 1. However, this method does not work well for partial months, such as counting the orders from January 15 to February 15, as it will return 0 instead of 1.
- You can use a pivot table to summarize the data by month. To do this, you can follow these steps:
- Select the data range, such as A1:B20.
- Go to the Insert tab, and click PivotTable.
- In the Create PivotTable dialog box, choose where you want to place the pivot table, such as a new worksheet, and click OK.
- In the PivotTable Fields pane, drag the Order Date field to the Rows area, and drag the Amount field to the Values area.
- Right-click any cell in the Order Date column, and choose Group.
- In the Grouping dialog box, select Months under By, and click OK.
- You should see a pivot table that shows the count and sum of orders by month
Advantages and Disadvantages
Each method of counting cells in a month range has its own advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of them:
- The COUNTIFS and EDATE method is flexible and accurate, as it can handle any start date and any date range. It also works for both whole and partial months. However, it requires entering the start date of each month manually, which can be tedious and prone to errors. It also requires using two functions, which can make the formula complex and hard to understand.
- The SUMPRODUCT and MONTH method is simple and easy to use, as it only requires one function and one criterion. It also does not need to enter the start date of each month, as it only uses the month number. However, it does not account for the year, so it may count cells from different years that have the same month number. It also does not work well for partial months, as it only counts cells that have the exact month number.
- The DATEDIF method is straightforward and intuitive, as it directly returns the number of months between two dates. It also works for both whole and partial months. However, it does not work well for dates that span across years, as it may return incorrect results. It also requires entering the start and end date of each month manually, which can be tedious and prone to errors.
- The pivot table method is powerful and convenient, as it can summarize the data by month automatically, without using any formulas. It also allows you to easily change the grouping and aggregation options, such as by quarter, year, or average. However, it requires creating a separate table, which can take up space and may not be updated automatically. It also may not be compatible with some versions of Excel, such as Excel Online.
