Filter Records

A filter limits a view of data to specific records without requiring you to alter the design of the query, form, or report. For example, rather than scanning a 100-page product list to find items in the $50 to $100 price range, or creating a smaller report to show only such items, you can instead apply a filter to the data to show only the records in the Products table where the Price field has a value between $50 and $100.

Apply a common filter

1. Open a table, query, form, or report in any of the following views: Datasheet, Form, Report, or Layout.
2. Make sure that the view is not already filtered. On the record selector bar, verify that either the Unfiltered or the dimmed No Filter icon is present.Note:   To remove all the filters for a particular object, on the Home tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Advanced, and then click Clear All Filters.
   
3. Click anywhere in the column or control that corresponds to the first field that you want to filter.On the Home tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Filter.
   
4. Do one of the following:To apply a common filter, point to Text (or Number or Date) Filters, and then click the filter that you want. Filters such as Equals and Between prompt you to enter the necessary values.
   

   Text Filter
   

   Numeric Filter

   Note:   Certain characters, such as *, %, and ?, have a special meaning when specified in a filter text box. For example, * represents a string of characters, so the string a* will match any string that begins with a, and not only the literal string a*. To disregard the special meaning of a character, enclose it in square brackets [], like this: a[*]. Databases that use the ANSI-89 standard treat *, ?, [, ], !, -, and # as special characters. Databases that use the ANSI-92 standard treat %, _, [, ], ^, and – as special characters. You can use either standard with Access, but you cannot mix the two standards (e.g., ?a*) in a particular expression.

5. To apply a filter based on field values, clear the check boxes next to the values on which you do not want to filter, and then click OK.Hint:  If you have a large list of values, and if you want to filter on one or only a few of those values, first clear the (Select All) check box and then select the values you want.To filter for null values (a null value indicates the absence of data) in text, number, and date fields, in the check box list, clear the (Select All) check box, and then select the check box next to (Blanks).

   Repeat the previous three steps for each field that you want to filter.

Apply a filter based on a selection

1. Open a table, query, form, or report in any of the following views: Datasheet, Form, Report, or Layout.
2. Make sure that the view is not already filtered. On the record selector bar, verify that either the Unfiltered or the dimmed No Filter icon is present.
3. Move to the record that contains the value that you want to use as part of the filter, and then click inside the column (in Datasheet view) or control (in Form, Report, or Layout view). To filter based upon a partial selection, select the characters that you want.
   
4. On the Home tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Selection, and then click the filter you want to apply.
   
5. To filter other fields based on a selection, repeat the preceding two steps.