Summary
One way to track attendance is with simple formulas based on the COUNTIF function. In the example shown, the formula in M5 is:
=COUNTIF(C5:L5,"x")
Generic formula
=COUNTIF(range,"x")
Explanation
This formula simply uses COUNTIF with a criteria of "x" (not quotation marks) to count x's in each row, where "x" represents "present" and an empty cell represents "absent":
=COUNTIF(C5:L5,"x") // count present
The count absent days, the worksheet uses COUNTIF again, configured to count empty cells:
=COUNTIF(C5:L5,"") // count absent
