Microsoft® Excel 2007: filter data

Filtering is a method of finding certain records in a spreadsheet based on any criteria you choose. In addition, filtering enables you to hide records that don't meet your criteria, displaying just a subset of data.

In this demonstration, you'll learn how to filter data in Microsoft Excel 2007.

First, let's filter for some specific values.

If filtering is not already on, click Filter. (Filtering is on if the filter [arrow] buttons appear at the top of each column. Right now, they don't.)

Open the filter list at the top of a column.

Clear (Select All) to clear the current selection (which is all fields) and select only specific values.

Select specific values, as desired. In this case, we'll filter out all data except entries with IL and IN in the State column.

Click OK.

The worksheet now displays only those entries with IL or IN in the State field.

<pause>

To remove the filter, click Clear.

Now let's filter by First Name to show only entries containing the word "and".

Open the menu for the First Name column.

Point to Text Filters.

Select Contains.

Add the "and" criteria to the Custom AutoFilter dialog box.

Click OK.

The list is filtered to show only entries in which the First Name field contains "and".

In this demonstration, you learned how to apply filtering to data in a worksheet. Filtering data lets you view only the records that meet your criteria, making it much easier to browse or analyze the filtered data.