Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Setting Up Custom AutoFiltering.

Setting Up Custom AutoFiltering

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 16, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


When are using Excel's AutoFiltering feature, you may want to display information in your list according to a custom set of criteria.

Excel makes this easy to do. All you need to do is the following:

  1. If AutoFiltering is not already turned on, choose Filter from the Data menu, then click AutoFilter.
  2. Use the drop-down arrow to the right of a column label to select the (Custom...) option. Excel displays the Custom AutoFilter dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Custom AutoFilter dialog box.

  4. Use the controls in the dialog box to set the criteria you want used for filtering your list.
  5. Click on OK.

You can use the Custom AutoFilter dialog box to set any combination of criteria that you need. For instance, you can indicate that you want to see any values below, within, or above any given thresholds you desire. The filtering criteria will even work just fine with text values. For instance, you can cause Excel to display only records that are greater than AE. This means that anything beginning with AA through AE won't be displayed in the filtered list.

You should note that Excel also provides wildcard characters you can use to filter text values. These are the same wildcards you can use in specifying file names at the Windows command prompt. For instance, the question mark matches any single character, and the asterisk matches any number of characters. Thus, if you wanted to only display records that have the letter T in the third character position, you would use the equal sign operator (=) and a value of ??T*. This means the first two characters can be anything, the third character must be a T, and the rest can be anything.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2857) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Setting Up Custom AutoFiltering.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Prohibiting Single-Digit Entries in a Cell

The Data Validation capabilities of Excel can be very helpful when you are trying to control what people can enter into a ...

Discover More

Limiting a Spelling Check

When you perform a spelling check, Word typically checks everything in your document. If you want to limit what is ...

Discover More

Resetting Default Character Formatting

If you need to remove any explicit character formatting from some text, you'll want to commit the shortcut in this tip to ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! John Walkenbach's name is synonymous with excellence in deciphering complex technical topics. With this comprehensive guide, "Mr. Spreadsheet" shows how to maximize your Excel experience using professional spreadsheet application development tips from his own personal bookshelf. Check out Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Using AutoFiltering

Excel's AutoFilter tool is a great way to make a long list of items much more manageable. This tip explains how to set up ...

Discover More

Toggling AutoFilter

Want a tool that will help you toggle AutoFilter on and off? Excel provides some tools you can use, but you need to be ...

Discover More

Turning Off AutoFiltering

After you apply a filter to your data, you may wonder how to get rid of it so that you can once again see all your data. ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five more than 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.