I stay with my friends and for the same reason we maintain an excel sheet for our household expenses. At the end of each month, we sit and analyze our expenditures by various categories to separate the amount due and the amount paid.
Because there was so much data, we had a hard time scanning through the rows and columns to separate all the options. This continued until I discovered the Filter tool that MS Excel provides. And believe me, since then things have become a lot easier. This is exactly what we are going to talk about today.
Use Filter tool makes it really easy to analyze and calculate stuff. Let’s see what it can do. To get started, you must have an excel sheet with data. You also have to figure out the criteria and column values that you want to filter on.
For example, I have column B (Due and Paid) as the basis to filter my data. The Filter tools are below Data navigation.
When you navigate to said tab, you will need to select the column you choose to filter on. You can select multiple columns or even the entire document. press Filter icon after you have made your selection.
You’ll notice that a funnel-like icon appears on that column header and provides a drop-down menu to make a selection. Expand this menu and uncheck the boxes that you don’t want to see in the result set. In other words, select only the boxes/values you want to see and press Alright.
In our example, you’ll notice that the rows with Due under column B form part of the result set. All other rows have been filtered out. You will also see that row 1 still shows Paid and the reason behind is that excel treats row 1 as a column header and not a value.
In the same way, you can apply multiple filters based on other column values. To remove the filter, you can tap the tool icon again or click Ventilation besides.
There is another way to apply filters and it can be applied to a selected cell value. Select a cell and right click to navigate to Filter. There are four types of choices you can make here. Explore them all to understand what they mean.
Conclusion
If you need to maintain excel sheets and also need to merge results from time to time, you will find the Filter tool useful. It is not difficult to master. The more you use it, the more it will make you think how you would have lived without it.
(Top image credits: Microsoft Sweden)
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
