Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 31, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
If you use the AutoFilter feature of Excel, the drop-down list that appears at the top of a filtered column lists the unique entries in the filtered column. If there are many, many unique entries, then Excel lists only the first 1,000 unique entries in the drop-down list. If you have lists with lots of data, you may wonder if there is a way to increase the number of unique entries that appear.
Unfortunately, there is no way to increase this limit—it is hard-coded into Excel. There are, however, third-party solutions that allow you to count unique records from a list of records. If these are of interest, check www.ozgrid.com for their utilities, or check the following page at Chip Pearson's site:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/Duplicates.aspx
Also, you might consider rethinking how you do filtering on the list. The whole idea behind AutoFiltering is to create small lists from large ones, and it can be reasonably argued that over a thousand records is not a small list.
Instead, you may want to use secondary lists. For instance, if you want to filter by last name, you might add a column that contains only the first letter of each last name. That would result in up to 26 unique items; choose one of the letters, then you can further refine the selection by choosing from the filtered last names within that letter. The "trouble" of clicking twice is offset by the overall data being much more manageable.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2403) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
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 MoreExcel limits the number of items that can be shown in an AutoFilter drop-down list. Granted, it is a high limit, but it ...
Discover MoreIf you have a large number of data records, each with an associated date, you might want to filter that data so you see ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2019-12-10 04:53:07
KK Greece
10,000, not 1,000
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments