Using a countif function for text string data.

Hi everyone.

I'm currently working on a spreadsheet (see attached) which will have both numeric and text string data. This will be sorted by calender month and linked to another spreadsheet.

Could someone please list 2 functions for me.

The 1st would allow act like a filter allowing only data to be counted for a selected month from a drop down list.

The 2nd allows a counting of pre-set (drop down list) text strings to be counted.

Sorry seems a bit complicated and really I should have either a created a pivot report or used access but I'd like to continue with Excel for this exercise.

Thanks in advance.