If you have XL 2003, use View/Toolbars to show the Formula Auditing toolbar,
select the cell with the SUMPRODCUT, use the Evaluate Function item (last
icon) on the Formula Auditing toolbar, This should help you see how the
formula evolves
I typed a D into cell C16 and modified my formula to read
=SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(INDIRECT("'"&A2:A4&"'!D3"),C16))
and it returned the correct value
This change lets me copy the formula to other cells
=SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(INDIRECT("'"&$A$2:$A$4&"'!D3"),C18))
I typed a D3 into cell B16 and modified my formula to read
=SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(INDIRECT("'"&$A$2:$A$4&"'!"&B16),C16))
and it returned the correct value
--
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme
remove caps from email
"Mrfish" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:AADC6D25-D86F-4F29-B991-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Genius. This is exactly what I wanted and I've made it work in one cell.
>
> However I don't really understand how it works, can you explain?
>
> Second small issue - I want to copy the formula out across rows and
> columns,
> and currently the D3 part is fixed. Is there an easy change to unfix the
> reference?
>
> Many thanks!
>
> "Bernard Liengme" wrote:
>
>> =SUMPRODUCT(COUNTIF(INDIRECT("'"&A2:A4&"'!D3"),"D"))
>> where A2:A4 holds the names of each sheet to be used -- extend if needed
>> best wishes
>> --
>> Bernard V Liengme
>> Microsoft Excel MVP
>> http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme
>> remove caps from email
>>
>> "Mrfish" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:03281BBF-E4FA-4F66-AC66-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >I would like to do a 3d countif across multiple sheets. I simply want to
>> > count the cells containing 'D's. Something like
>> > =COUNTIF(Start:End!D43,"D")
>> > would be ideal if it worked!
>> >
>> > Unfortunately I see now that countif() doesn't work with a 3d
>> > reference. I
>> > see some other answers here have used a =sumproduct(n(... function to
>> > get
>> > round this, but didn't understand it.
>> >
>> > Can anyone here help?
>>
>>
>>