Let's assume that A2:A7 contains the item, and B2:B7 contains the
category. Let D2:D4 contain 'cat a', 'cat b', and 'cat c', then enter
the following formula in E2, confirm with CONTROL+SHIFT+ENTER (if done
correctly, Excel will automatically place curly braces {.....} around
the formula), and copy down:

=SUM(IF(FREQUENCY(IF($B$2:$B$7=D2,MATCH("~"&$A$2:$ A$7,$A$2:$A$7&"",0)),RO
W($A$2:$A$7)-ROW($A$2)+1),1))

Hope this helps!

In article ,
Btaylor64 wrote:

Domenic, I really appreciate your help!

When you use the terms ItemRange and CategoryRange in the formula below, do
you mean (using my example below), A1:A6 and B1:B6, respectively? When Excel
gets to the second IF in this formula, it attempts to evaluate whether B1:B6
= "Cat A", which seems to be a syntax error? I get "#VALUE!" as a response.

When I click to show the calculation steps, this ItemRange after the first
IF is the part where it gives me an error. Am I just misunderstanding your
intent as to what ItemRange means?

Again, I am so grateful for your help!
-Brett