Excel 2003 filtering problems

[tari.pardini]

When autofiltering in Excel 2003 I have serveral columns of
information (i.e. last name, first name, location, ID number, other
demographics). Often if I click the drop down for a particular column
item (i.e. last name), the item I am searching for does not show in
the drop down list (thus I used to assume the person or item did not
exist in the spreadsheet).

However, if I do not filter and scroll down through the spreadsheet
eyeballing the data, the last name is actually there.

I have since found that if I go to another column item (i.e. first
name) and search this new field for the first name it will appear and
when I select it, there is the person with the last name that was
missing from the original filtered drop down list.

I can also first filter by location (if I know where the person is
located), then click the drop down for the last name (that was
missing) and it will now appear.

I originally thought I had a corrupt spreadsheet, but it occurs
frequently in all of my spreadsheet. I have re-installed Excel, and
still have the problem.

When speaking with a co-worker today, she expressed the same
frustration when using Excel. I love the ease of filtering, but it is
pretty much useless if it is not dependable. While it is still
generally quicker to filter and seach through several different
columns of data than to eyeball the entire spreadsheet, it is annoying
and time consuming.

I cannot find any posting on the MS website for this. Anyone else
have this problem?

 

[David Biddulph]

It sounds like you have more than 1000 different items in the list?

http://www.contextures.com/xlautofilter02.html#Limits

 

[tari.pardini]

Thank you David. Yes, it is true that most of my spreadsheets contain
more than 1000 rows of "different" information. This totally explains
why the "pre-filtering" process generally allows me to then see the
information. Thanks so much. I will try this on smaller databases
and see if it holds true. - Tari