Auto Filters in Excel 2007

"How can I filter out all the stuff that doesn't matter right away and have Excel display only the items I'm looking for?" The answer comes in the form of Excel's AutoFilter feature. Excel allows you to "filter" data to find only what meets your current requirements. Basically, with the AutoFilter feature, you get to sort out the unwanted data and have Excel only display the "good stuff." (Don't worry, it doesn't delete the other stuff. It just hides it for awhile).

MS Excel AutoFilters Part 1 - The Basics

Open the file with the data to be filtered, and Select a cell in the data.

If you're using Excel 2007, you'll need to find the Sort and Filter button on the Home ribbon. Choose Filter from the choices.

Did you see what just happened? There are little down arrows next to the column titles. Click on one of the arrows to pull it down.

In Excel 2007, you should see a list of all possible choices in that column, so if you're looking for a particular number, name or city, pull down that column's arrow and choose it from the list. Actually, in Excel 2007, you'll need to deselect the "(Select All)" choice and then select the data you want to see.

Instantly, you'll be returned to the Excel worksheet, but it will be different. The only things listed now are the ones that meet your chosen criteria.

If you need to filter further (using secondary criteria), you can choose another column and pick from what's available there. (You might want to note that you'll only see a list of what's left after the first filtering. Basically, you're filtering the filtered data, not the list from the original data).

You can continue to filter that way until you get just the data you're looking for.

Once you've gotten just what you want, you can print it, copy/paste it, etc. You can do whatever you need to do with the data. The point is, you've gotten exactly what you needed much quicker than if you would have gone through it all by hand.

When you're ready to show all the data again, you have a couple of choices. If you're done with the AutoFilter completely, you can go back to the Home ribbon, Sort and Filter button, Filter choice) to turn it off. That will restore your data to its original state.