We are having some data entry done.  We want to know if there is a
relatively easy way to count the number of keystrokes entered in an
Excel range, i.e. something like a1:k25?

Thanks

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Request for Question Clarification by hummer-ga on 12 Nov 2004 19:02 PST

Hi jlane,

How about something like this?

"Mousotron Pro keeps track of the distance your mouse cursor moves and
also the number of times you pressed the mouse buttons. On top of that
it shows the number of keystrokes. If your boss says you don't work
hard enough, this is the tool to prove him wrong." [Free]
http://www.topshareware.com/Mousotron-download-10795.htm

Please let me know if that would work for you.
hummer

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Clarification of Question by jlane-ga on 12 Nov 2004 20:05 PST

We have about 5,000 lists a year that are keyed.  We need to keep
track of the keystrokes in each Excel list for payment purposes to the
data entry people.  I was hoping for an easy way to highlight a range
of cells and be able to get a keystroke count in that range of cells
(there are no macros or formulae involved).  Your suggestion would
have to be done at the data entry point (China) and we would not have
a way of verifying the count since we are working with the finished
product.

Sorry - but if you have any other ideas I would love to hear them.

JLane

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Request for Question Clarification by hammer-ga on 14 Nov 2004 17:48 PST

Are you interested in the number of characters currently typed in the
cells in the selected range, or in the number of keystrokes it took to
get the values in there? For example, if a cell contains a 5 character
value, but the user pressed backspace 3 times and retyped three
characters, is the count for that cell 5 or 11?

- Hammer

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Clarification of Question by jlane-ga on 14 Nov 2004 18:40 PST

We need the number actually entered correctly, not those caused by errors.

I believe that =SUMPRODUCT(LEN(A1:K25)) mentioned below solves the problem.

It wouldn't be completely automatic but you could add a column at the
end of the data and use the LEN function and then sum that column. 
This only works for one cell at a time so if you had multiple columns
you would have to use the CONCATENATE function in a first column and
the the LEN function in a second column that you would sum.

If you mean the total number of characters in your range then try this:

=SUMPRODUCT(LEN(A1:K25))

rgds, SV