I am creating a spreadsheet that will allow me to keep track of a football
game's statistics by entering the result as each play occurs. Generally, no
problem. However, plays randomly result in first downs, and when that
happens, I would like to "mark" the cell in some way. Then I will create a
cell that simply counts how many of those cells there are, which will give me
the total number of first downs.

My question is, in what way can I "mark" the cell? Whatever way I do it, the
worksheet must still be able to access and use the number entered in that
cell.

Use a column:

Column header: 1st downs

Simply enter a Y or Yes to mean the play resulted in a 1st down.

Then just count the Y or Yes in that column:

=COUNTIF(F:F,"Y")
=COUNTIF(F:F,"Yes")

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"rugbykats" wrote in message
...
I am creating a spreadsheet that will allow me to keep track of a football
game's statistics by entering the result as each play occurs. Generally,
no
problem. However, plays randomly result in first downs, and when that
happens, I would like to "mark" the cell in some way. Then I will create a
cell that simply counts how many of those cells there are, which will give
me
the total number of first downs.

My question is, in what way can I "mark" the cell? Whatever way I do it,
the
worksheet must still be able to access and use the number entered in that
cell.

Just make the cell's background color unique. Then use:

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/Colors.aspx
--
Gary''s Student - gsnu200801


"rugbykats" wrote:

I am creating a spreadsheet that will allow me to keep track of a football
game's statistics by entering the result as each play occurs. Generally, no
problem. However, plays randomly result in first downs, and when that
happens, I would like to "mark" the cell in some way. Then I will create a
cell that simply counts how many of those cells there are, which will give me
the total number of first downs.

My question is, in what way can I "mark" the cell? Whatever way I do it, the
worksheet must still be able to access and use the number entered in that
cell.

Thanks to both of you for the quick responses. I'm hoping to avoid adding a
first downs column, just out of sheer laziness. =P
I was wondering if color could be used as a Count criterion, and after
searching the discussion boards had just about given up on it. The CountColor
command looks great, and I'm definitely going to try it. So thanks for the
heads up!

"Gary''s Student" wrote:

Just make the cell's background color unique. Then use:

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/Colors.aspx
--
Gary''s Student - gsnu200801


"rugbykats" wrote:

I am creating a spreadsheet that will allow me to keep track of a football
game's statistics by entering the result as each play occurs. Generally, no
problem. However, plays randomly result in first downs, and when that
happens, I would like to "mark" the cell in some way. Then I will create a
cell that simply counts how many of those cells there are, which will give me
the total number of first downs.

My question is, in what way can I "mark" the cell? Whatever way I do it, the
worksheet must still be able to access and use the number entered in that
cell.