Filtering data in Excel databases

¶ … Filter an Excel Database

The tutorial "How to Filter an Excel Database" demonstrates how to use Microsoft Excel's Filter feature. In a nutshell, filtering is a way to view or extract certain data using criteria specified by the user. The tutorial guides the user from using basic data filters (Data Form, AutoFilter) to advanced filters (Wilcards, Filter Ranges, Extract Ranges). The article did a fairly good job of showing the steps involved in creating filters. However, it felt short on some usability issues that caused some problems when I tried to follow the examples.

The article is divided into two sections: Simple Filters and Advanced Filters. The outline starts with an introduction of what Filtering is and what types of filter conditions Excel can handle. Each section contains step-by-step instructions along with screenshots so that users can perform the exercises accurately. A database called "Trails in the Black Hills" includes sample trail data that will be used in the different examples throughout the course. After completing the course, the user can perform filtering on his own even with a different scenario.

The article is very useful for Excel beginners. A user just needs to follow the course from start to finish and he will know all about Excel filtering afterwards. The course also used real-life data (the trail database), which made the course more interesting since it demonstrates a practical use of filtering. However, I found some usability issues and encountered mishaps during his study of the course. In the section called "Performing Advanced Filters," it didn't say that I had to delete the extra rows created in "Multiple conditions in a single column." Since it didn't provide such instruction, filtering didn't work in the next section called "One condition in two or more columns." The article also didn't show consistency with the outline and the actual progress of the user. It doesn't highlight the specific section on the outline (left side) so the user will be at a loss when he takes a break and return to the article a few minutes later. Of course, there is the page progress on the upper right corner but this is not a very useful progress indicator and very inconsistent with the outline. There is also some inconsistency with describing the steps and showing screenshots. In some sections, there are numbered steps (ex. "Data Form Searches") while bulleted steps in some (ex. "Excel AutoFilter"). Some sections also lacked screenshots where these were most needed. This is particularly applicable to the "Advanced Filters" section, where mistakes are mostly likely to happen. One other glaring usability issue is regarding the use of the sample database. In the "Introduction" section, there's a link to another web page displaying the database. The user is required to select everything then copy-paste to Excel. Wouldn't it have been easier just to provide a link to an actual Excel file where the data is already present?