Learn how to use the Filtering functionality in MS Excel 2007. Learn how to filter data in Microsoft Excel 2007.


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Video Transcription

So now, that we have talked about some of the sorting functionality, let us talk about the filtering functionality in Excel. Filtering is a great way for you to ask your data questions. What do I mean by that? Well, with filters, you can pass criteria to Excel saying that you only want to see the records or rows of data that meet those criteria. Let me show you what I mean. I am going to go up to the sort and filter command button on the Home Tab. I will select filter. Now, what you see is little drop down arrows next to each column name. Now, suppose that I only want to see those records where the product description is cleaning and housing services, what I can do is click on the drop down selector next to product description and then in this mini dialog box, you see here I can select the values that I want to see by manipulating the check boxes next to each values. Let me go ahead and expand so you can get a better look. I can simply unselect the ones that I do not want to see and press okay and as you can see, the data table is now only showing records with the product description is cleaning and housekeeping services. Now, what happens to the other records? Well, nothing. The other records are simply hidden. Excel hides the records that do not meet your particular criteria. Now, one thing can notice how the drop down selector for the product description field is different from the other drop down selectors now. This is Excel’s way of letting you know that this particular field is filtered somehow. Now, let us do a couple of other things. I am going to select the drop down selector again. I will go ahead and expand this again so you can see. Let us say that not only do I want to see all the records whose product discretion is cleaning and housekeeping services but I also want to see those records where the product is predictive maintenance and preventative maintenance. It is just a matter of clicking that checkbox and pressing okay. Now, my table is filtered to show only these two products. Now, you may have noticed that in the value list for product description, there is a selection called select all. Let us go to that real quick. This selection is Excel’s way of giving you an easy method of selecting and deselecting all of the values. I do not have very many values here so deselecting one at the time is pretty easy. What if I have 50 values here, 60, maybe 150, maybe 200? It would be very difficult for me to sit here and start checking and un-checking all the values that I want to see but to select all options allows me to simply click on it to either select them all or uncheck it to deselect them all. Now, I can select all or I can deselect all and then only select the ones that I wanted to see. Now, to remove a filter, simply select the sort and filter and then you can click the filter command to tag it off. We have covered a lot of ground in this lesson. You learn how to populate your worksheet with data, you explore some of the ways to navigate large data tables and you discovered various tools to find sort and filter data. In the next lesson, we will keep it light and talk about some of the formatting techniques. You can employ the change, the look and fill of your spreadsheets.