Excel Hack: =CountIf with an Asterisk

A friend of mine recently emailed asking for help with a formula. In an effort to build a dashboard that would provide information on the buildings and apartments he manages, he was looking for a formula that could return the number of units he had a available for rent within a certain time period.

The problem was that the software he was using did not always generate a uniform response for an “unrented” unit. The solution provided was to use the =CountIf formula and an asterisk.

Please see video: