How to count unique values

On this first worksheet, this list of colors contains duplicates.

We want to get a count of the unique colors.

Now, I can easily count these values with theCOUNTA function.

Next, I’ll enter the UNIQUE function in D5.

Now, to get a unique count, I just need to feed these results to the COUNTA function.

And, when I enter the formula, COUNTA returns 5.

On the next worksheet, we have time logged by several people for two projects, Alpha and Omega.

I’ll start with a total in J5.

As before, I’ll give UNIQUE the full set of names.

Then I’ll pass that result into COUNTA, which returns 4.

Arrayis the full list of names, theincludeargument is all projects equal to Omega in cell H4.

Now I can wrap the UNIQUE function around FILTER.

This represents the list of people who have worked on Omega.

Finally, to get a count, I wrap COUNTA around the whole formula.

To recap how this formula works, I’ll use the F9 key.

FILTER gets a list of names for the project.

UNIQUE takes that list and returns unique values only.

Finally, COUNTA returns the count.