Karin,

Perhaps they trailing spaces in the cell.

Check with

=SUMPRODUCT(--(TRIM(A1:A100)="Y"))

and see if you still get 0.

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)


"karin" wrote in message
...
This is really silly. I have a long column of "Y" and "N" - input by a
user.
I need to count the Y and N's - and use them further in my sheets.
I've noted that in some sheets, my countif function works - and will
count
the Y values. On other sheets (from the same template!) it doesn't work!
I
have another user inputting these values - so perhaps her excel settings
are
causing the problem?
I just need to know what to alter in order to have these Y and N input
values 'readable' from other excel equations (if, and or). I've tried all
formats I can see - text, general, number - nothing works, and I can't
see
any differences between the sheets that work and those that don't! HELP!

thanks
karin