Filter Data using a drop-down list

[Lboom2008]

I have a sheet of data against which I have assigned categories, sometimes
more than one category to the same piece of data. Is it possible to create a
drop-down list which will then filter this data not as autofilter does but as
a "text contains" filter?

Therefore when people want to look at certain categories, they can select
from the drop-down box and it will show only the data with that particular
category against it (but which may also have other categories as well).

Thanks!

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi

With Autofilter, you can choose from the dropdown>Customise>Contains>type in
the text you are looking for.

Alternatively, you can download a sample file I created called FastFilter,
which allows you to type any text at the top of the column without having to
use the filter dropdown.
The file can be downloaded from Debra Dalgleish's site
http://www.contextures.com/Fastfilter.zip
or from Nick Hodge's ExcelUserGroup
http://excelusergroup.org/media/p/1194.aspx

 

[Lboom2008]

Thanks Roger

What I am actually trying to do is use a drop-down list of pre-defined
categories on a contents page to autofilter the data using a "text contains"
filter. This means that the user can then pull up all the data relating to a
certain category without actually having to type in the text, or even know
what the category is. I am thinking I might need to use a combobox and
macros, although not totally sure how to go about this!

Thanks