AutoFilters: A Working Example

Did you ever have a list of information you needed to sift through? You would have loved to be able to filter out some of the data and review or print only specific elements.  With this command, you can! To start, bring data in from a database, accounting program, ASCII text, or a large worksheet.  Using the Sort command, make sure the data is sorted in the correct sequence.  As always, position your cursor at the beginning of the range you want to work with. 

 

Next select Data, Filter, AutoFilter from the menu.  Notice that a small down-arrow appears in each header row cell.  Clicking on these arrows will allow you to select the filter category you desire.  Note one, more, or all cells may be filtered.  Select your criteria carefully, however, make sure to test the accuracy of your results to insure that the table is meaningful!

For example, select Coupons to view all of the data related to coupon redemption as shown below.

 

You could further refine the filtered results using any column of data. For example, in the screen below the user is asking Excel to display only those that data related to coupons in which more than $5,000 was redeemed…

…and here are the results:

The Advanced AutoFilter command allows you to set up a separate criteria area and a separate report area.  Items that meet the criteria can either be filtered in place or copied to a new location.

Advanced Filter Dialog Box

If you want to give this a try yourself, you can download my example Excel 2002 file here:

http://www.exceladvisor.net/sub/creative/web-autofilter.xls

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