the number of lines containing "mike" as the employee, the number of line showing "andrew" as the employee... but i was trying to figure out a way to not have to retype all 450 different names.

 

wait now you have to type something?

 

pivot table would definitely work and take like 30 seconds to do exactly what you want if you knew how it works. but i don't have excel on this computer so i can't explain step-by-step. microsoft does one thing well--that's write help sections.

 

Dammit now I AM getting confused!! i get i suck at eaplaining shit so i give up...

 

OH, I see.


I only know how to count a total of unique names :hs:

so it'll count

"andrew" "smith"
"andrew" jones"
"mike" "walters"
"mike" mccool"

as 2 unique first names, but in reality ... they're 4 different people.

 

Why don't you just sort the sheet by name, then use the subtotal function?

IE:

Insert column, put the number 1 next to each line.
ex:
COLUMN A COLUMN B
1 Andrew
1 Dave

etc

Then sort by column B (name)

Then use the subtotal function.
Use for each change in name, subtotal column A.

This will give you a total for each instance of the name.

This is the easiest way I can suggest at the moment, there is a better way, but I can't really do that right now.

 

if your sheet looks something like below where there are multiple names in different rows, then the easiest way is the autofilter function. once you have filtered the names you want you can just highlight the name in one column, and on the bottom right of xcel there should be a "count=4" or something to count how many names you have.

A B
mike jones
paul smith
stan walter
me you
mike jones
paul smith
stan walter
me you
mike jones
paul smith
stan walter
me you
mike jones
paul smith
stan walter
me you

Flitered Information

mike jones
mike jones
mike jones
mike jones

 

i get that... it's just so damn long.... i want to figure out a way it would automaticly count how many time each name come up. I actually think jclau00 was right a pivot table would be best i just need to learn how to use them.

 

i understood his post as:

q
q
q
w
w
e

and he wants q=3, w=2 e=1

 

:jae: :bigok: BINGO!