Count the Visible Rows in a Filtered List in Excel

How to use the COUNT or COUNTA function on a filtered list of data so that hidden rows are not included in the count.

To do this, use the SUBTOTAL() function.

Sections:

Syntax

Count - Filtered Data

Count - Exclude Manually Hidden Rows

Aggregate Function - New Way to Count

Notes

Additional Resources

Syntax

=SUBTOTAL(2, range_to_count)

2 tells the function to perform a count.

range_to_count is the range that you want to count.

COUNTA

Use a 3 instead of a 2 to perform a COUNTA instead of just a regular COUNT.

Count - Filtered Data

=SUBTOTAL(2,B4:B8)

This counts the cells that are still visible, after a filter has been applied, in the range B4:B8.

Result:

This updates each time a filter is added or removed and also works when no filter at all is used:

Look to the next example to see how to avoid counting rows that were manually hidden.

Count - Exclude Manually Hidden Rows

The above example does not work when rows are manually hidden - right-click a row and click Hide to manually hide a row.

To make sure the function does not count rows that were manually hidden, we must change the first argument of the function.

=SUBTOTAL(102,B4:B8)

102 was 2 in the first example. Changing this to 102 makes the function ignore filtered data and also manually hidden data.

Nothing else was changed.

COUNTA

If using the COUTNA feature, change the 3 to 103.

Aggregate Function - New Way to Count

=AGGREGATE(2,3,B5:B9)

This is a newer more powerful version of the SUBTOTAL function that can perform more calculations and includes more calculation options.

2 is the number that says which calculation to make.

3 is the option to choose from, which includes ignoring errors and other SUBTOTAL and AGGREGATE functions.

B5:B9 is the range on which to perform the calculation.

When you input this function, you will see a list of options for the first two arguments, and they are very clear and easy to understand.

Notes

The COUNT functionality only counts cells that contain numbers.

The COUNTA functionality counts all cells that are not empty.

As such, it may be better for you to use the COUNTA functionality (either 3 or 103) for the SUBTOTAL function.

The SUBTOTAL function allows you to apply a number of regular functions to filtered data, for a full list and explanation, view our tutorial on the SUBTOTAL function in Excel.

Make sure to download the file for this tutorial so you can work with the above examples in Excel.

Additional Resources

Exclude Filtered or Hidden Cells from Calculations

SUBTOTAL Function (microsoft)

AGGREGATE Function (microsoft)