Count and Sum by Color is a helpful Excel add-in that lets you instantly calculate cells of the same tint. On this page, you will find out how to use the tool to sum and count the colored data in your spreadsheet.
Before you start
The tool lets you insert the result as a formula created with custom Ablebits functions. If you are going to use this feature, before running Sum and Count by color, go to the Ablebits Data tab, click Options and check the Enable Ablebits functions option:
After that, close and start Excel anew.
How to count colored cells in Excel
If you work with tables that have color-coded cells, see the details below for a quick way to count them.
Note, Sum and Count by Color does not identify the format of the values in the cells. For example, if you have dates in your range, the tool will treat them as numbers.
Start Sum by Color
Open the Excel worksheet where you need to count cells by color and click the Sum by Color icon in the Calculate group on the Ablebits Tools tab:
Pick one of two tools in the drop-down list:
Sum and count by one color
Use this utility to calculate cell data based on the selected color.
After picking the first option, you will see the Count and Sum by One Color pane:
- By default, the add-in picks the entire data range in your Excel worksheet. You can change it by selecting the needed table or entering the range address manually.
- Also, you can get the entire table selected automatically. For this, pick any cell in the table and click the Expand selection icon.
- Click the Color Picker icon and select a cell that represents the background and/or font color you want to sum and count by.
- Click the Calculate button and get the result on the add-in's pane.
Note. If there are empty cells in your range, the tool will identify the font and fill colors that are set in the Format Cells option.
- To see calculations by background color, go to the Background tab.
- If you want to see the count by font color, open the Font tab.
- If needed, you can paste a single calculation result to your table: just hover the mouse cursor over the needed function (SUM, COUNT, MAX, etc.) and click the Paste button. The add-in will ask you to pick the top-left cell for the result:
Note. If you use this option, the numerical result will be pasted into your table without any text labels. For your convenience, the resulting cell will have the same font/background color as the cells you counted. -
You can Insert result as a formula if you checked the corresponding option. Formulas will be created with custom Ablebits functions. You can learn more about them on the Ablebits functions page. The functions will not work for conditionally formatted cells and for ranges formatted as tables with colored alternate rows or columns.
Note. The created with these functions formulas recalculate only values and do not respond to color changes in cells.
- Click the Paste All... button to insert all the results to the place you choose in your sheet. You will see the same dialog box to specify the top-left cell for the count color results.
The results will have text labels and will be colored the way the cells you counted:
Sum and count by all colors
This tool will give you a quick overview of color-coded data in your table. For example, if you use different hues to highlight prices from the vendors, the utility will sum cells by color and show you the total for any group of numbers.
To count colored cells in Excel, open the worksheet with your data and run Sum and Count by All Colors:
- The add-in selects the entire data range in your worksheet automatically. You can change the range by entering the new address manually or selecting it in you sheet.
- Also, you can get the entire table selected automatically. For this, pick any cell in the table and click the Expand selection icon.
- When the range is chosen, click Calculate and see the results straight on the pane.
- Select Background to see the result counted by the cell's fill color.
- Choose Font to total the selected values by their text color.
- Open this drop-down menu to switch to the function that interests you most: Sum, Count, Counta, Countcolor, Average, Averagea, Averagecolor, Max, or Min.
Use the COUNTCOLOR function to get the number of all cells that have the same background or font color. Be aware that COUNT only counts cells containing numbers, COUNTA counts all cells that aren't empty. COUNTCOLOR counts all cells that have the appropriate font or background color and it doesn't matter what is in the cells: text, numbers, or nothing:
Use the AVERAGECOLOR function to get the average of all cells that have this background or font color, empty as well. AVERAGE returns the average of cells with numbers only, AVERAGEA finds the average of cells that and are not empty, they may include logical values and text representations of numbers. AVERAGECOLOR returns the average of all cells that have this background/font color, whether they contain values or are empty:
-
You can Insert result as a formula if you checked the corresponding option. Formulas will be created with custom Ablebits functions. You can learn more about them on the Ablebits functions page. The functions will not work for conditionally formatted cells and for ranges formatted as tables with colored alternate rows or columns.
Note. The created with these functions formulas recalculate only values and do not respond to color changes in cells.
- This handy tool also lets you paste the resulting numbers from its pane to any location in your Excel worksheet. Click Paste All... and you will see a dialog box where you need to specify the top-left cell in your current or new worksheet. Once the cell is chosen, click OK to paste calculation results by the selected function.
The calculation result is inserted into your worksheet without any text labels. The color of the cell with the result represents all the cells that were counted or summed.
