Count the number of times a conditional formatting formula is true

Just use the same condition within a COUNTIF(condition,TRUE)

Unfortunately, it's not working.

Formula:

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edit: not working as in, the output is "0".

Your formula seems to have some incorrect logic....

COUNTIF() syntax...
=COUNTIF(Range-to-count, count-criteria)
=COUNTIF(J8:J37,
...AND(
......OR(J8="x",J8="~?"),
.........SUM(
............COUNTIF(J$8:J8,"x*"),
............COUNTIF(J$8:J8,"~?")
.........)<=11,
......TRUE)
...)
Seems you have a TRUE inside the AND, but it is not being tested against anythint
Also, not sure what AND(OR(J8="x",J8="~?"),SUM(COUNTIF(J$8:J8,"x*"),COUNTIF(J$8:J8,"~?"))<=11,TRUE) would return, but that is supposed to be the COUNT criteria

Perhaps just this?
=SUM(COUNTIF(J8:J37,{"x","~?"}))

So your answer will only ever show if it is <= 11?

The conditional formatting works fine, now I want to count what I can see. I'm having a hard time explaining it another way than in my starting post.

edit: The context of what my conditional formatting formula should do and how i got helped, is in the link in my OP. If needed, I can explain it as well.

Yes, I understand your question, but I am just making sure...so, your answer will vener be greater than 11, correct?

(because of the SUM(COUNTIF(J$8:J8,"x*"),COUNTIF(J$8:J8,"~?"))<=11) part)

Perhaps this?
=MIN(11,SUM(COUNTIF(J$8:J$37,{"x","~?"})))

OK Im not sure how you would do this, because you need some sort of progressive formula that will stop counting 1 thing at 11, then count something else within that range

Conditional Formatting can be thought of as a TRUE or FALSE situation. Where the condition is TRUE apply format. You can set up the formula to render a TRUE or FALSE on the worksheet but it doesn't necessarily work to give the values that determine the TRUE or FALSE without using those conditions within a function to render the actual values.

This is the Conditional formatting formula contained in an IF formula. Where the value is TRUE the value is returned.

Formula:

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This chart shows your data in column J, the TRUE/FALSE in column K and the count in column L.

	J	K	L
8	x	TRUE	1
9	x	TRUE	2
10	x	TRUE	3
11	x	TRUE	4
12	?	FALSE
13	n/a	FALSE
14	x	TRUE	5
15	n/a	FALSE
16	x	TRUE	6
17	?	FALSE
18	?	FALSE
19	x	TRUE	7
20	?	FALSE
21	x	FALSE
22	?	FALSE

Try entering this in AB8 and fill down and across (8 columns for the first section. go further if required)

Formula:

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To have the count in a convenient place ( I chose AB6 and filled across) enter this formula

Formula:

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The result is:

	AB	AC	AD	AE	AF	AG	AH	AI
5	Count of "X"
6	10	11	11	11	10	11	11	11
7
8	1	1	1	1	1
9	2	2	2	2	2	1		1
10						2	1	2
11	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	3
12
13
14	4	4	4	4		4	3	4
15	5	5	5	5	4	5	4	5
16	6	6	6	6
17			7	7	5
18
19
20	7	7	8	8	6
21		8	9	9	7	6	5
22						7	6	6
23	8	9	10	10	8	8	7	7
24
25	9	10		11	9
26	10	11	11		10	9	8	8
27
28							9	9
29
30
31
32						10	10	10
33						11	11	11
34
35
36
37

Here is your workbook with the formula filled across to cover the data to column Z.

Also, the CF formulas are progressive - the range increases as you go down the column. Once the criteria is met, the CF no longer triggers. When you want to count them, your range is now no longer progressive, it is all-inclusive...
=AND(J9="x",SUM(COUNTIF(J$8:J9,"x*"),COUNTIF(J$8:J9,"~?"))<=11)
=AND(J10="x",SUM(COUNTIF(J$8:J10,"x*"),COUNTIF(J$8:J10,"~?"))<=11)
=AND(J11="x",SUM(COUNTIF(J$8:J11,"x*"),COUNTIF(J$8:J11,"~?"))<=11)

compared to...
=AND(J8:J37="x",SUM(COUNTIF(J$8:J37,"x*"),COUNTIF(J$8:J37,"~?"))<=11)

You could probably get around this using a helper for each column, but that would be a pain

Guess I'm at a dead end (edit: regarding a solution without additional columns). Thanks for all the help so far!

edit: I don't want to sound unappreciative of the help, maybe I should explain why additional columns would be a problem. While I'm roughly maintaining that sheet, there are others in the board, that eventually have to add dates and if they insert a column in between, they should be able to use it as intended, without having to add any other things. While my excel knowledge is already very basic, theirs is close to non-existent - so I need a "user-friendly" solution.

Maybe i can tackle the +1-count-solution with a macro, but despite c&p-ing the ones I found, that's even more unknown territory. :D