Spreadsheet Practice

How to count blank cells in Excel

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=COUNTBLANK(C2:C11)

Use =COUNTBLANK(C2:C11). It counts empty cells, and also cells whose formula returns empty text ("").

Result on the example
3 in F1
Works in
Every current version
Google Sheets
Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in F1. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

COUNTBLANK counts the cells in the range that have nothing in them. Three contacts are missing a phone number.

It also counts cells where a formula returns "", because those look empty, which is usually what you want for a "missing" count.

=COUNTBLANK(C2:C11)

Result3

  1. C2:C1110 rows × 1 col: "555-0142", "555-0187", (empty), "555-0119", …

    A range: 10 cells in one column.

  2. COUNTBLANK(C2:C11)3

    COUNTBLANK: Counts empty cells.

    • rangeC2:C1110 rows × 1 col: "555-0142", "555-0187", (empty), "555-0119", …

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =COUNTBLANK(C2:C11). We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns 3.

Other ways to do it

Each one was run on the same example sheet.

FormulaResultWhen to use it
=COUNTIF(C2:C11,"")3The same count with COUNTIF, which lets you switch to COUNTIFS and add conditions, like blanks in one region only.
=SUMPRODUCT(--(C2:C11=""))3Array version: combine it with other tests, such as blanks in phone or email.

Common mistakes

  • A cell with a space in it is not blank. If COUNTBLANK seems too low, check with =SUMPRODUCT(--(TRIM(C2:C11)="")).
  • COUNTBLANK takes one range only. For blanks in two separate columns, add two COUNTBLANKs.

Try it yourself

Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.

Count blank cells

In F1, count the contacts in C2:C11 who have no phone number.

Questions

How do I count blank cells with a condition?

Use COUNTIFS with "" as one of the criteria: =COUNTIFS(C2:C11,"",A2:A11,"<>") counts named contacts with no phone.

How do I count rows where every cell is blank?

Test each column: =COUNTIFS(B2:B11,"",C2:C11,"").

Checked by running on 2026-10-30: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.