Comments on: How to sum and count cells by color in Excel

Even though Microsoft Excel has a variety of functions for different purposes, none can count or sum by color of a cell. Aside from third-party tools, there is only one possible solution - create your own functions. Continue reading →

Comments page 5. Total comments: 830

  1. Hello. Thanks a lot for the codes. I am wondering whether it could be possible to use the function for conditionally formatted cells in a cell as a general function to be inserted in whatever cell (not as a macro in a dialog box). I.e. I am looking for adjusting the function for summing colored cells which would work for conditionally formatted cells as well. Any ideas about adjusting the code?
    Thanks.
    Stanley S

      1. Hi Alexander! Below, in January Svetlana Cheusheva wrote a reply that there is only a macro available for both sum&count. But directly under this comment I am writing now I already asked you about some possible way of adjusting your code for function from "count" to "sum". Is it possible?
        Thanks!
        Have a nice day,
        Stanley

        1. Hello!
          Try this code:

          Public Function SumByColorCells(CellRange As Range, TargetCell As Range)

          Dim TargetColor As Long, SumCells As Long, C As Range

          TargetColor = Evaluate("cfcolour(" & TargetCell.Address & ")")
          For Each C In CellRange
          If Evaluate("Cfcolour(" & C.Address & ")") = TargetColor Then SumCells = C + SumCells
          Next C
          SumByColorCells = SumCells
          End Function

  2. SIR,

    I AM NOT GET COUNT OF COLORS WHERE CONDITIONAL FORMATTING APPLIED BY ABOVE MENTIONED SOLUTIONS/

    KIDNLY HELP

    1. Hello!
      This custom function counts all cells shaded by a certain color. Including with conditional formatting.

      Public Function CountByColorCells(CellRange As Range, TargetCell As Range)
      Dim TargetColor As Long, Count As Long, C As Range
      TargetColor = Evaluate("cfcolour(" & TargetCell.Address & ")")
      For Each C In CellRange
      If Evaluate("Cfcolour(" & C.Address & ")") = TargetColor Then Count = Count + 1
      Next C
      CountByColorCells = Count
      End Function

      Function CFColour(Cl As Range) As Double
      CFColour = Cl.DisplayFormat.Interior.Color
      End Function

      1. Hi Alexander!
        Thank you for solving the case. Do you have any ideas on summing the range of cells including conditional formatted cells? Replacing "count" with "sum" in your code simply does not help but I do not know why...
        Thank you!
        Stanley S.

  3. I am using CountCellsByColor. Can I count cells that also contains a certain text? It counts the cell colors fine, but other users are highlighting other things in the same colors which are now giving wrong calculations. eg cells that are yellow, but also contain 'test' for example.

  4. This was really useful, I was trying to do an analysis and the way the analysis was done was by color. But I wanted to count some colors and wanted to do the "if" statement, is there a way I can do that?

    1. Hi!
      Have you tried the ways described in this blog post? If they don’t work for you, then please describe your task in detail, I’ll try to suggest a solution.

  5. Nice code.

    Appears to be a small typo

    VBA macro to count and some conditionally formatted cells.
    Sub SumCountByConditionalFormat()

    ... and SUM conditionally ...

    1. Hi Ron,

      Oops, a silly typo indeed. Fixed, thank you for pointing that out!

  6. Your code for "How to sum by color in Excel" is excellent with only one issue, it doesn't automatically recalculate if you color the cells after setting the the calcuation cell. Forcing the recalculate works well and my sheet is set to automatic recalculation but it will not. I assume closing and re-opening will also cause the recalc.

    Any help appreciated.

  7. Hello,

    I was able to use SumCountByConditionalFormat just fine as a sub however i was wondering if there is a way to make it a function? so instead of preselecting and answering a msgbox i could place the information in the formula bar?

    Thank you,

    Halle

  8. I really like the function. I am wondering If there is a way to make it refresh on color change. in other words, I use it to track tasks. So when I complete the task change the color of the cell. If I use the paintbrush it works but if I just apply the new color it does not update until I click into the cell and click out.

  9. After add this module in excel, it need to loading everytime when I edit the excel, may I know how to solve this problem?

    2. It also is no responded and blur screen loading. Is the function not suitable for my excel or did I set sth wrong?

  10. I added in your VBA for Count by color across entire workbook and saved it as a macro enabled excel file, i created a new tab and filled a cell with the colour i wanted to contain cell A1 i then used the formula =WbkCountByColor(A1) in the adjacent cell. the following error was then generated: Microsoft visual basic Compile error: Sub or function not defined. Seems to relate to text in the code CountCellsbyColor? not sure how to remedy the situation?

    Thanks

    1. Hi!
      For this function to work, the code for the CountCellsByColor and SumCellsByColor functions must also be added to Excel. Read the Note carefully after the function code.

      1. Thanks, I got it to work and finished the workbook, however after closing and reopening the file in order to get the function to work it now reads VBAProject.Module2.CountCellsByColor(b2:b8, b2)
        Any idea why this has changed as now the formulas don't work and I'll manually have to edit them all to get the functionality back?

  11. Is there a function for the macro "Count and sum conditionally formatted cells" ?

    I need the number provided as an output in a cell that I can leverage with other formulas elsewhere.

    1. Hi Eric,

      Nope. For conditionally formatted cells, we only have a macro.

  12. Great resource! I used the Sumbycolour function and it just WORKED through!

    Appreciate the good work. Thanks a lot!

  13. I can get it to work when I place the macro in the specific workbook I am working on, but cannot get it to work when I save it in the Personal WB via VBA. Any thoughts? I create new WB's from a program each week and need it to work from the personal macro wb vs having to re-add it every week to the new wb. At that point it it not useful. :(

  14. Hello! I used the CountCellsByColor VBA code and it worked like a charm. Only one issue, it is not automatically updating - I have to hit calculate now. I have made sure the Automatic Calculate option is turned on, but is not working. Any quick fix suggestions?

    Thank you!

    1. Hi!
      Pay attention to the following paragraph of the article above - How to force custom functions to update.

  15. hi,

    I have used your code in desktop successfully but when I upload into the server it shows " Security Risk - Microsoft has blocked marcos from running because the source of this file untrusted"

    Kindly assists with thanks.

      1. click file> and next move to option > trust option > trust settings> macro setting

  16. I'm using =CountCellsByColor(C4:AG4,AK3) and it did work well when I have applied all to spread sheet,but after reopening Excel workbook I got everywhere NAME ERROR. What I'm doing wrong?

  17. I also tried this, but it didn't work.
    =SUMPRODUCT(IFERROR(--(MOD($D$39:$L$47,1)=0),0),SumCellsByColor($D$39:$L$47,D9))

    Where D9 is the BASE color and
    $D$39:$L$47 is the range with different colors, integers, and decimals, which I am trying to SUM only the integers of the D9 color.

    Thank you very much for your time
    Best regards
    Drago

      1. Thank you very much for your quick response.

        Unfortunately, I get a #Value error. I copy and paste your solution, then try ctrl+shift+enter to activate it, but get a #value error.

        But we managed to do it by adding 2 lines in the macro code for the SumCellsByColor

        If IsNumeric(cellCurrent) Then

        If Int(cellCurrent) = cellCurrent Then

        Thank you so much for this article. It will save me a lot of time in the future.

        Best regards
        Drago

        p.s If someone is interested in the whole macro for this particular case, I could paste the whole code in the comment section.

  18. Hello,
    Thank you very much for this. It works like magic.
    I have a small problem though. I need to sum ONLY the integer values from the cell range and to exclude the decimal numbers.
    I have a cell range with integer and decimal numbers and I use the =SumCellsByColor($D$39:$L$47,D10) formula and I need the SUM of ONLY the whole nubers.

    Thank you very much

    Best regards
    Drago

  19. I got a problem to sum the amount in the green box. The thing is, whenever the checkbox ticked (true) then the cell contain an amount will turn to green (next to checkbox cell). I want to make the sum formula only for the green boxes for total revenue from January to December (horizontal data).

  20. Its really great using this solution.

    It resolved my problem which could have taken weeks time for me to calculate the colored cells.

    Thank You very much.

  21. Your examples above are either (1) sum or count by color, or (2) sum or count by font. They are great and helpful. But I am just wondering if there is a formula to perform [count by color + font] and [sum by color + font] ?

    Thanks

  22. Is there any way to make the cells auto-calculate when applicable cells are formatted?

    1. Hello!
      Formulas are automatically recalculated when the cell value changes, but not the format. Your problem can be solved with a VBA macro.

  23. It does wonders. But I am still not able to execute the sum part of it. The value keeps coming to 0. No problem with the count function though. I will be grateful for the help.

    1. Hi!
      I’m sorry but your task is not entirely clear to me. Could you please describe it in more detail?

  24. How can the macro can be modified if I only want to count or sum the colored cell after filter the table? My apologies, still much a novice at VBA.

  25. You are a goddess! This is incredible. Thanks! I got all the functionality to get this done.

  26. Thanks so much from Pematang Siantar City Indonesia.

  27. Worked perfect

  28. I have a table that lists all shipments not yet invoiced. I have colored all the rows using conditional formatting. As an example, shipments that are overdue for invoicing are colored red, based on more than 5 days past the arrival date of the vessel. We have several managers responsible for different types of commodities, e.g. bulk oils and petroleum, frozen foods, chemicals, etc.
    Can the CountIfs count how many reds, blues, greens, and yellows by manager? Do you have a code that can do this for me? At the moment I am counting manually.
    I have tried =CountCellsByColor(DBN!$B$6:$B$1299,SUMMARY!$C$3) but this results in total blue cells, not how many blue cells a particular manager has.

      1. Is there any VBA code for counting colored celled which are conditionally formatted?? i did not find solution anywhere for latest excel versions

        1. Hi!
          Have you tried the ways described in this blog post? Why don't you want to use the VBA code that is suggested in the first paragraph of the article?

  29. LOVE this code - thanks so much!

    In my sheet I have dates in Row 7
    And data in the rows under it

    I have a start date in Cell E4, and a end date in column d starting at D8

    I want to only sumbycolour when the dates are equal to or inbetween the 2 specified dates

    So Start Date is 12/11/21
    End Date is 16/11/21

    The row with the data i'm counting has data in it for the whole year

    I feel like I need to include an IF statement - but getting lost - appreciate anyones help!

      1. Thanks that helped heaps.... so I now have the SUMIFS working, and have it written like this:

        =SUMIFS(F5:Z5,F4:Z4,">="&B1,F4:Z4,"<="&C5)

        Where I have dates in B1 and in C5

        Is there a way to incorporate this with the sumbycolor - maybe a sumbycolorifs?

        I want the above to only sum when cells are of a specified colour.

        Thanks again

        1. Hello!
          You want to sum by both date and cell color. But these two conditions can be applied using different functions. Unfortunately, you can only combine them if you add VBA code to the SUMBYCOLOR function.
          You can filter by dates on your table and then use the SUM BY COLOR tool. It is available as a part of our Ultimate Suite for Excel that you can install in a trial mode and check how it works for free.

          1. Thanks again - unfortunately due to other restraints in the workbook / I don't have the ability to use filtering for this.

            Anyone have the knowledge / skill required to write the code required to make sum by date and cell colour work together? Would so appreciate it!

            1. Hi @Alexander Trifuntov - any chance you can help with the code for this?

              1. Hi!
                Unfortunately, we are not in the business of writing VBA code. However, the filter is a basic Excel tool. I don't really understand why you can't use it.

  30. Hi
    I tried to use the function but every time I am getting #name error. What should I do?

  31. Good morning,

    I've tried the macro but it keeps giving me zero as result both for sum and count :(
    HELP!

    Thx,
    Mara

  32. Amazing!

    This is exactly what I needed.

    Thank you for sharing :)

  33. Excellent article and it worked perfectly! Thank you!! Well done!

  34. Many thanks, very useful reference, worked like a charm.

    More power & best regards.

  35. This is great! The only problem I've having is that the cell color doesn't get counted unless I use the format painter tool to copy the color from the cell in the formula. It also isn't working for conditional formatted cell colors. Any help is appreciated!

  36. I am trying to collect data that is in certain color boxes on my spreadsheet to total up amounts of hours someone has done over a certain amount of time. I am pulling my hair out trying to find a solution. Can you please help before i go bald lol.

    1. My spreadsheet is a register so i need to add up different color boxes. I have 6 different colors for the aims that i need to add up. So with one color (blue) it is looking for how many hours that have completed over a 43 week programme. There is two things that i want to do. I want to add the amount of blue boxes there are but i also need to know the total of hours they have completed over this time.

      1. Hello!
        Pay attention to the following paragraph of the article above - How to count by color and sum by color in an Excel worksheet. What problems did you encounter while using this instruction?

        1. A friend of mine managed to do it in excel but when doing it on google drive sheet its not working

          =ColorFunction(K5,C14:V56,TRUE) this is the one she used.

          It keeps coming up with error unknown function

          1. Hello!
            These guidelines apply only to Excel. If you need advice on Google Sheets, search for an answer or ask a question in the related section on our blog. Try it here.

  37. I have an Excel sheet that I am trying to use as a temporary scheduling tool. It is set up to look like a gantt chart with the colors set with conditional formatting based on how long each step in the scheduled process will take to accomplish. I'm trying to figure out how to count the times each conditionally formatted color shows up in a weekly bucket to calculate my labor needs. Is there a way to amend your VBA to read just a portion of my table? Or any ideas on how to accomplish this?

  38. Thank you so much for the count by color and sum cells colored using conditional formatting. It's my problem but simple it has an error in something. When I format some spreadsheets with conditional to color. Then use the formula CountCellsByColor(range, color code). The result is wrong. So I hope have good news about it

  39. It works but it only does one row. When I try to copy the formula down it doesn't work. HELP!

  40. Thank you so much, it was really helpful!

  41. I was trying few times failed until found your tips, it is working well, thank you so much for your sharing

  42. I have been helping my wife with some spreadsheets. Everything was going great until she needed to count employees and the new new employees were typed in red font and were not counted in the total number of employees. Your CountCellsByFontColor worked perfect.

    Thank you very much!!!

  43. This was awesome and so easy to implement. Thank you so much!!!

  44. now it is working thanks

  45. i need to count multi color in big range contains of about 1000 cells could you help please

  46. I tried the countcellsbycolor formula, it just plain did not work! i followed all instructions right & got the #NAME? dumb error over 7 over again.

    1. I got the same result, pressed F9, and it worked.

  47. Excel by color coding

  48. Thank You so much. This is really useful.

  49. Nice code. works great. Thank you!

  50. In succession to my former comment on 7th november:

    The solution to this is disabling automatic calculation in excel this can be done in "Formulas" -> Calculalation Options -> Manual...

    Now when you want the VBA to calculate just hit "Calculate Now".

    This does the trick for me...

    Works like a charm

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