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How to Use AutoFilter in Excel

2 minute read

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AutoFilter is a useful tool in Excel for hiding or displaying values using just a few clicks. It’s a quick and easy way to get to the data of interest when working with large spreadsheets.

  • In Excel, select the data you want to filter.

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  • Then click on Data > Filter.

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  • You’ll notice you get a dropdown arrow. This is where we’re going to access our options for filtering our data. Here you’ll see that the various types of data have checkboxes next to them. This means that currently, by default, all the data is being displayed.

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  • If you only want to see certain items, you can remove some items from the display. Just remove the check marks by clicking the boxes for whichever items you want to hide.

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  • You can also select or deselect all items in the list by using the Select All box.
  • In the Search field, you can also create a filter to search for and display specific data. If you do that, it’s important to remember how special characters work–most notably the asterisk (*) character.
  • For example, imagine that you want to show any items that include the word “berries.” If you type “*berries,” the asterisk tells Excel that any collection of characters can come before the word “berries” and it will still be a valid result. So by typing in “*berries,” you’ll get results like blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

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Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

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