14 DAY TRIAL // The Google Docs Spreadsheet Editor can be a very useful tool, but it's still lacking some features that would make it a true competitor. One by one, Google is adding those features. The latest addition are filters which enable users to sift through large data sets with greater ease.
Filters, as you might expect, allow you to select just part of the data, based on one or more columns and then sort your selection.
"Collecting information is often much easier than analyzing or understanding it, especially for large information in large spreadsheets. One common challenge is that it’s hard to drill down into the data you want to find quickly," Jane Lu, Software Engineer at Google wrote.
"Today we are making it easier to analyze and view your data with the addition of filtering in Google spreadsheets. Adding a filter onto a set of data can help you quickly narrow down the data set to find the data you need. By selecting a data set, you can filter and sort amongst many rows at once," she announced.
Using filters is easy enough. Just select the data you want to filter, it can be just one cell all the data related to it will be selected. Then click on the new Filter toolbar button.
Once selected, you'll notice a drop-down menu button in the boxes of the header row. You can then select the entries in that column that you want displayed, either manually, or by doing a search.
You can also sort the filtered info. If you're satisfied with the filter, click OK and the spreadsheet will now only display the data that meets the filter's criteria.
It can be useful in a number of situations, but, right now, the filter tool is not very powerful. It's good for selecting part of a data set, but the actual filters are very limited, basically, you can select the rows you want displayed and that's it.
Much more useful would be smart filters which would enable you to select the data that is greater than a certain value for example or is within a certain range. Hopefully, Google won't spend too much improving the tool.