Advanced Filter - unique cell value as one of the criteria

**efm** · 05-17-2010, 12:55 PM

Hi all,

I'm having the following challenge in excel. I'm using the Advanced Filter on a large excel database and want to add some kind of 'unique cell value' function as one of the filter criteria. So basicly I want to filter the records based on the unique value of only one column. The 'unique records' option doesn't work because it checks all cell values in every column.

A simple example might be the easiest way to clarify what I would like to do. Suppose I have a database with 4 fields. The GroupId field is used to 'group' some of the records together. The 'Group specific info' field then adds some information for that group. It would be nice if the group specific info data does not need to be in the first record in the group.

Sample data:
Name - Gender - GroupId - Group specific info
John - m - 1 - "Group 1 info"
Marc - m - 2 - ""
Sue - f - "" - "Sue's info"
Carin - f - 1 - ""
Peter - m - 2 - "Group 2 info"

In the example John and Carin are both in group 1 and John's record contains some extra information. Marc and Peter are both in group 2 and Peter's record contains some extra information. Sue is no member of a group so no GroupId has been assigned.

The results I would like to see after filtering using the Advanced Filter is:

Name - Gender - GroupId - Group specific Info
John - m - 1 - "Group 1 info"
Sue - f - "" - "Sue's info"
Peter - m - 2 - "Group 2 info"

Another option is that "Gender = f" is the first criterium and the "unique group" the second criterium, then the results would be:
Sue - f - "" - "Sue's info"
Carin - f - 1 - ""

(It would be even better if the group 1 specific info was added to Carin's record as well, but that is another problem)

I hope that this example is clear enough. Any help would be highly appreciated! Does anybody have any ideas?

Regards,
Efm

**davesexcel** · 05-17-2010, 08:19 PM

To best describe or illustrate your problem you would be better off attaching a dummy workbook, the workbook should contain the same structure and some dummy data of the same type as the type you have in your real workbook - so, if a cell contains numbers & letters in this format abc-123 then that should be reflected in the dummy workbook.

If needed supply a before and after sheet in the workbook so the person helping you can see what you are trying to achieve.

Doing this will ensure you get the result you need!