Data Filter or Find – your choice.
We have seen that there are a couple of inbuilt functions in Excel that are really handy. We have seen the find function and the filter function, when to use which – is one better than the other? It should be noted that these functions are available in all the versions of Excel that you are likely to meet.
Both filter and find will take you to a single row in the spread sheet if that is what you need, but the screen output will be very different. As we saw a Data Filter changes what is displayed, whereas the search function moves the focus to the first cell that matches.
To simplify, if you wanted to find a single registration – then it’s find. If you want to display a list of the Douglas DC-3’s that you’ve seen, it has to be the Data Filters. It is all pretty straight forward, even for super spotter Malcolm.
In short.
The Find (Ctrl+F) function is used to quickly locate specific text, numbers, or values within a worksheet, one occurrence at a time, without changing which data is displayed. It is best for searching for individual items.
Data Filters, on the other hand, temporarily hide rows that do not meet selected criteria, displaying only the records that match. Filters are used to analyse and work with subsets of data rather than simply locating a specific value.
Both these functions have their uses, both are quick and easy to use.
Next Post
In the next post, we will be looking at how what you record. And how you record it determines things that sometimes restrict you, especially when you make that decision about keeping an electronic log.