Filtering in Excel
- Wednesday
- September
- 03
- 2025
Bob Umlas Overview:
Filtering in Excel is a feature that allows users to selectively display data based on specific criteria, hiding rows that do not meet the filtering conditions. Users can apply filters to columns containing text, numbers, dates, or even colors. Filtered data can be sorted, grouped, or aggregated to facilitate analysis. Excel provides various filtering options, including text filters (such as contains, begins with), number filters (such as greater than, less than), and date filters (such as before, after). Filtering helps users quickly identify relevant information, analyze trends, and create focused reports.
Why you should Attend:
Learning about filtering in Excel is essential for several reasons:
- Data Exploration: Allows users to quickly explore and analyze large datasets by displaying only relevant information
- Data Analysis: Facilitates the identification of trends, patterns, and outliers within the data
- Data Presentation: Enables users to create focused reports and presentations by filtering out unnecessary information
- Efficiency: Saves time by narrowing down data to the desired subset without manually sorting through large volumes of information
- Decision Making: Provides insights into data that can inform better decision-making processes
- Customization: Offers various filtering options, such as text, number, date, and color filters, to tailor filtering criteria to specific needs
- Interactivity: Enhances the interactivity of Excel workbooks by allowing users to dynamically adjust filters and instantly see the impact on the data
Areas Covered in the Session:
- Basic filtering: applying filters to columns
- Text filters: contains, begins with, ends with, etc
- Number filters: greater than, less than, between, etc
- Date filters: before, after, between, etc
- Filter by color or icon
- Clearing and reapplying filters
- Sorting data within filtered results
- Advanced filter options
- Using wildcards in filters
- Creating custom filters
- Filtering with multiple criteria
Who Will Benefit:
- Anyone using Excel
Speaker Profile
Bob Umlas worked for a major tax and accounting firm, using Microsoft Excel® 8 hours a day, writing custom applications for staff and clients from 1998 to 2018.
He has been using Excel since 1986 - version 0.99 (on the Macintosh)! He was a contributing editor to Inside Microsoft Excel for many years, a magazine devoted exclusively to Microsoft Excel and published by The Cobb Group and later Ziff-Davis. At the time, most issues contain either an article by Mr. Umlas on using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) or some tip or technique from him on using Excel. He has had more than 300 articles published on subjects ranging from beginner to advanced macros, and on tips, shortcuts, and general techniques using virtually all aspects of Excel.
Mr. Umlas was voted an “MVP” (Most Valuable Professional) by Microsoft each year from 1994-2018 (25 years!) for his contributions to the various online Forums about Excel and is known world-wide for his contributions in Excel. As an MVP, he met yearly with his fellow-MVPs at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, where he had access to the product developers. He has been a beta tester for new versions of Excel since version 1.5, and was asked by Microsoft for his input for newer versions of Excel. In 1995 he led a session called "Maximizing Excel Development Using Array Formulas" at Microsoft's Tech Ed Conference in New Orleans, and he led a session called Tips and Tricks at a Microsoft convention in New York City. He has hosted London’s Global Excel Summit each year since 2021, and in person in 2024, as well as led a session on tips and tricks. He also led a session on tips and tricks at the Las Vegas’ Financial Modeling World Championship in December, 2023. He has led online sessions all over the world including Africa, India, England, Canada and of course, the USA.
He is also the author of “This isn’t Excel, it’s Magic!” which is available from http://www.iil.com/publishing as well as from Amazon.com. Another book, “Excel Outside the Box” is available from http://www.mrexcel.com and is for the very advanced Excel user. Another book, “More Excel Outside the Box” is also available from mrexcel.com. One more, “Cool Excel Sh*t” is more tips & tricks. Lastly, published for Kindle, is “Excel Preschool: Understanding Microsoft Excel, finally!” – a book for the very beginner!
He is also the technical editor of many of Bill Jelen’s (Mr. Excel) books.
Mr. Umlas used to co-lead the New York PC User's group on Excel every month for about 20 years. He started leading this group again in 2018. He has been teaching Excel to individuals and corporations for several years.