How to Filter Data in Google Sheets

How to Filter Data in Google Sheets: An In-Depth Guide

Data filtering is key in any large dataset, especially in a Google sheet, to enhance the efficiency of the dataset. If you’re writing a text as a part of a specific project, preparing a business report, or just trying to keep your working documents in order, it will be helpful to dedicate a few minutes to learning more about the filter function. Below, you will find an outline of the most frequently asked questions about filtering data in Google Sheets.

Example:

Imagine you have a dataset with 1,000 rows including employee names, departments, and salaries. If you only want to view employees from the Marketing department, applying a filter will let you see only those rows, without deleting or altering the original data. 

How can I filter the data used in the Google Sheets chart?

Create Your Chart: First, you want to add a chart by clicking the desired data range and then navigating through Insert > Chart.

Apply Filter View: Go to Data > Filter views and choose the option: Create New Filter View. This will create a filter view that can be edited or modified without changing the view to that of other people.

Filter Data: By applying a filter to your data, choose the set of data you wish to appear in your Data pane view. In the next section, you will notice that your chart has been updated to display only the filtered data.

Customize Chart: In the Chart Editor, navigate through the different options and properties to make it more desirable and perfect in representing the filtered data.

Example:
You have the following data:

Month	Sales
Jan 2025	12,000
Feb 2025	15,000
Mar 2025	17,000
Apr 2025	11,000

• Create a chart using Insert > Chart

• Create a filter view, then filter only Jan to Mar

• The chart will now automatically update to show only Q1 sales data

Filtering Data for Individual User Views

The process of filtering only the data that is relevant to the current user in Google Sheets is as follows:

Create Filter View: Click on ‘Data’ from the menu bar and then click on ‘Filter views’, and from there, you click on ‘create new filter view’. This means that you are also able to add filters that only you, as the admin, can see.

Apply Filters: Click the filter buttons for the specific column to filter the data according to the selection made. All these changes will be invisible to other users, but you will be able to see the changes.

Save Filter View: Provide the filter view a name in that you can type to return to it later.

Example:
Dataset:

Name	Region	Sales
Ahmed	Lahore	5,000
Sarah	Karachi	7,000
Usman	Lahore	6,500

If Ahmed wants to focus only on Lahore sales data, he can create a personal filter view. This won’t affect what others see on the shared sheet. 

How to Use Array Formula to Filter a List by Custom Value in Google Sheets

Select Data Range: Underline the range you’ll love to filter.

Apply Filter: On the toolbar, click on Data and then select the Create filter option.

Filter by Value: If you want to filter by a condition, click the filter icon in the column header and choose Filter by condition. Select the field, the value, or the condition that you want to use to filter the records on.

Apply Filter: Click OK to apply the filter as highlighted in the figure below, and the list displayed below will contain only the rows where the given value has been selected.

Example:

Product	Category	Price
Mouse	Tech	800
Laptop	Tech	50,000
Book	Stationery	600

To view only products priced over 1000, use:

excel
=FILTER(A2:C4, C2:C4 > 1000) 

Result: Only the Laptop row will be displayed. 

Why & How Use Functions to Filter Multiple Data in Google Sheets?

Apply Filter: Choose the data range, then navigate to the Data menu and click Create a filter.

Multiple Criteria: Expand the filter icon in each column heading and select filter by condition or filter by values on each column.

Combine Filters: You can also filter complex statements with multiple conditions and values across various columns. To do that, each of the filters will reduce the data volume further.

Example:

Customer	City	Amount
Adeel	Karachi	7,000
Sana	Lahore	3,000
Bilal	Karachi	4,000

You want to filter data where:

• City = Karachi

• Amount > 5,000

Result: Only Adeel's record will show up.

Step-by-Step Tutorial: How to Filter in Google Sheets

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to filter on Google Sheets.

Select Data Range: To filter the range you want, you need to type the following command:

Create Filter: Click Data option from the navigation bar > Create filter. Filter icons will be available within the column headers.

Filter Data: This will produce a drop-down list where you can select your preferred filtering option, for example, Text, Number, and Date conditions.

Apply Filter: To filter out this data, click OK. Only the rows that qualify the criterion input will be shown on the sheet.

Example:

Task ID	Task Name	Status
101	Design Banner	Completed
102	Write Report	Pending
103	Fix Bug	Completed

Apply a filter on the “Status” column to show only “Completed”.

Result: Only Task IDs 101 and 103 will be visible. 

Which way is optimal for filtering multiple entries in Google Sheets?

Create a Filter: Right click above the data range and then select Data, followed by Create a filter.

Filter by Values: Navigate to the column that is most relevant to your filter and click on the filter icon at the top of this column.

Select Multiple Entries: Filter the input by checking the box on the left next to the entry you want to filter by. For instance, you can choose several values and see the list of rows that contain any of these values.

Apply: (Click OK if you wish to apply the filter.) It will now only display the records that contain the highlighted entries.

Example:

Order ID	City	Amount
001	Lahore	2,000
002	Islamabad	3,000
003	Karachi	2,500
004	Peshawar	2,800

Filter the “City” column and select multiple values: Lahore, Islamabad, and Peshawar

Result: Orders 001, 002, and 004 will be displayed. 

Conclusion: Enhancing Efficiency with Google Sheets Filtering

Google Sheets data filtering is a multi-faceted application that can improve data organization and analysis. When you need to pick out specific data that meets your needs within a sheet, whether you are charting, filtering for your use, or sorting through many criteria, then Google Sheets offers appealing filtering options to enhance efficiency. By following the steps above, you will be able to filter your data in the most efficient way possible and enable you to obtain only the data you require.