Sunday, December 19, 2004

Saving Autofilter Criteria

If you use some regular filters in a auto filter list, then you may wish to be able to save them and select them easily. To do this use a toolbar icon called Custom Views.

Step 1: Add the Custom Views icon to the toolbar.
1. Place the mouse over one of the toolbars, right click, and select Customize from the shortcut menu.
2. Select the Commands tab.
3. From Categories, select View and drag the Custom Views icon to the Menu bar.

Step 2: Save the filtering criteria
1. From Data select Filter, AutoFilter.
2. Select a cell from the column containing the criteria you want to filter with and from drop-down button filter the list.
3. Type any text criteria you want into the Custom Views box and Hit Enter twice to save.
4. Repeat the previous step and save as many filtering criteria as needed from any sheet within the workbook.

Notes:
Save as many filtering criteria in Custom Views as needed. These are saved in the local workbook only.
Filters from the Custom View are not actually filters but a memory of the saved filter selection. Using it acts on the filter table.
Multiple filters can be performed on different columns and saved.

I found this concept on ExcelTip.com and then added to the basic instructions.