Why didn't my original CountIF formula work?

I am trying to count the number of projects that began since Jan 1, 2024. I typed in the formula =COUNTIF([Start Date]:[Start Date], ">= Jan 1, 2024"). Basically I wanted to count the number of projects with a start date that were equal to Jan 1, 2024 or greater. However that formula gave the blatantly incorrect answer.

Using Smartsheet AI they gave me this formula =COUNTIF([Start Date]:[Start Date], >=DATE(2024, 1, 1)) which gave the correct answer.

But I still have no clue why the original formula I wrote didn't work. Can someone help me out? Thanks!

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dojones

The original formula is comparing a date to text, "Jan 1, 2024". Date(2024,1,1) works because it is a date.

RL5500

@dojones ok makes sense, how come though it still provided an answer? The column I was using was a Date field column, yet the original formula still counted '2,' curious as to why that happened?

Thanks for answering!

dojones

@RL5500

If there is something in your column that begins with K,L,M,N, … it will count that. Maybe a few fields are entered as a word. Change field to Date Only and see if it changes to 0 for count.

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