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Count Autofiltered Rows

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Q. When I use Excel's AutoFiltering, the status bar displays the number of qualifying rows. But for no apparent reason, that number often vanishes. How do I keep this number visible while I work?

AutoFiltering a list hides rows that don't meet your filter criteria. After applying filtering criteria, Excel shows the record count on the status bar--but this value disappears when the sheet is calculated.

To display a permanent count of the visible rows in an AutoFiltered list, create a formula using Excel's SUBTOTAL function. The first argument for SUBTOTAL specifies the type of operation (an argument of 2 displays a count of the visible cells in a range).

The figure below shows a list in rows 6 through 3006. The formula in cell D3 is:

=SUBTOTAL(2,A6:A3006)

The formula counts the number of visible cells in the range (minus the header row). Apply different filtering criteria, and the formula updates to show the new count. The SUBTOTAL function only works for AutoFiltering and outlining. If you hide rows manually, it won't return the correct result.

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In particular, the user interface for Excel 2007 (and later), is vastly different from its predecessors. Therefore, the menu commands listed in older tips, will not correspond to the Excel 2007 (and later) user interface.

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Contains more than 200 useful tips and tricks for Excel | Other Excel 2003 books | Amazon link: John Walkenbach's Favorite Excel Tips & Tricks

Contains more than 200 useful tips and tricks for Excel 2007 | Other Excel 2007 books | Amazon link: John Walkenbach's Favorite Excel 2007 Tips & Tricks