In our industry there is one desktop program we use more then any other.  Microsoft Excel.  Since we are all constantly looking for ways to make our work faster and the data more powerful I have taken it upon myself to start posting any excel tips, tricks, shortcuts or fun formulas that I come across, if you have a suggestion for a post, or something you’ve been trying to solve, please let me know.  I hope you enjoy.

Excel Tip 1 – Counting Words in a Cell

=LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))+1

where A1 equals the cell with the words you want to count

BEWARE – it will count superfluous spaces as well. If you are unsure about having extra spaces in the cell (ie in front of the words or after) you may want to nest the trim formula as well.

=LEN(TRIM(A1))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))+1

Tags: excel, excel tips, counting, cell, counting words in a cell, formula