Quick Filter Selection

More speed and simplicity are always good things in Excel. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to use the functionality of AutoFilter whereby you merely select the value in an active cell for your filter criteria?

Although it is easy to do this in Excel 2007 (improved functionality), you can use this cool feature in prior versions of Excel versions of Excel as well (if you know where to look).

The fact is that it is a bit tricky to find, and perhaps even confusing when you do. For instance, in Excel 2003, you should:

1. Click on Tools and go to Customize
2. Choose Data under the Categories and find the “AutoFilter” in Commands
3. Drag the AutoFilter icon to your toolbar

What is confusing is that this “AutoFilter” works differently than the one you most familiar with.

Here is what you can do with it:

1. Point to any cell in your table
2. Click on your new “AutoFilter” icon
3. The table will automatically filter according to your selection
4. Cumulative filters can be added by selecting another cell and clicking on the icon again

Wow! How cool is that?!? Try it out; you may never go back to the ordinary AutoFilter again!