Basic Functions
Beginner

COUNTBLANK: what is still missing

Count the gaps rather than the entries.

Task:

Timesheets are due by Friday. Column B holds the hours for each person who has submitted. Put the number of people who still have not submitted anything in B10.

Hints

+5 XPno-hints bonus

Solve it on your own to keep the bonus. Each hint gets one step closer to the formula.

Variations of COUNT, COUNTA

0/4

The same formula in the other shapes it takes at work.

  1. COUNT Functions

    Three ways to count, and the difference between them is the whole point.

    Core
    Intermediate
  2. COUNTBLANK: what is still missing

    Count the gaps rather than the entries.

    Beginner
  3. COUNTIFS: count with two conditions

    How many rows meet this condition and that one.

    Intermediate
  4. COUNTIF with a wildcard

    Count the cells that end with, start with or contain some text.

    Intermediate

The data in this exercise

This is the grid you start with. Cell references in the task — B6, C2 — point at the row numbers and column letters below.

10 rows × 2 columns1 cell you fill in
AB
1EmployeeHours
2Amira37.5
3Ben
4Chloe40
5Dev
6Elena22.5
7Femi
8Grace37.5
9
10Not submitted
What this exercise teachesMay contain the answer

You could get there with ROWS minus COUNT, but that breaks if someone types "sick" into a cell. COUNTBLANK asks the question directly — how many are still empty — and is the number you chase on a Friday afternoon.