Data filtering is pretty common in Excel to show you only what you want to see.  Most commonly, the “Auto Filter” will provide a dropdown list of values found in a column and allow you to select one of the column values. Once selected, only rows that have the selected value are shown. 

Recently, a colleague was describing a situation he was faced with using a complex worksheet and was finding the built-in filtering capabilities either insufficient or too awkward, which has resulted in what I am sharing here - a simple multifilter addin. 

This addin provides for a little more than was originally sought - filtering to one or more rows in a column.

With this multifilter, a column, cell range in a column, row, and cell range in a row … can be filtered. The multifilter functionality pops up in various places - the main menu, column menu, row menu, and cell menu.  As long as you are filtering on one column or row, or a range within the column or row, you’re in business. 

       

Applying the filter is very easy.  Select a range, right-click, and select Multi-filter from the context menu.  You’ll get a small form with unique instances of the cell range values listed.

Select one or more values and click OK. In the example below, only selected columns are shown.

Should your range include mulitple rows and columns, filtering is not available.

When you’re done, click Reset to bring everything back into view. The addin is available for download here.

Multifilter.xla

I hope some will find this useful.

Regards
Derek