The countif function takes 2 arguments. You have the first one correct in
that it is a range of cells. The second argument (which you have wrong) is a
single value of cell. You have a range of cells for your second argument.
Change it to something like...

=COUNTIF(MAIL04,Sheet1!A1)

And copy that down where Sheet1!A1 is the first cell in the range of
suburbs...
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Lyndon" wrote:

Hi - I want to be able to take a mailing list and get a count of the suburbs
with the same names - providing me with suburb distribution of that mailing
list.

I have attempted to do this by utilising the COUNTIF function and setting
the suburb column in my mailing list as a named range and setting this as my
range value and then using a master list of all suburbs in my state, again
set as a named range, and using this as my criteria value.

I am therefore setting the formula up as =COUNTIF(MAIL04,MASTER_SUBS).

I'm setting this formula up next to my master list and dragging the formula
down with the intention that the suburb count will appear next to the master
list.

No matter how I try to work this I get a value of zero.

Am I approaching this task in the wrong way? Is there a better function to
use? How can I achieve the result I'm after?

Thank you to anyone who can assist!!!