When collaborating with others, often times not everyone is looking at the same kind of view. With the Filter feature in Google Sheets, you can analyze data by showing only the information you want. But applying these filters changes what others see in the file, too. And because Google Sheets is a collaborative cloud-based spreadsheet, you may want to filter data without changing the original data and impacting others who might be working on the data. When people make changes they’re not supposed to in a shared spreadsheet, it can create disorder and confusion for others.
That's where the helpful Filter Views come in. A filtered view lies above the original information. With a filtered view with Filter Views in Google Sheets, you can apply the filter conditions of your choice without changing the original spreadsheet view. With Filter Views, you can also sort the data without changing the original sort order of the data. In addition, you can save and name this filtered view for easy access in the future. Your collaborators can also use filter views. You don't even need to activate Filter to use filter views. Once saved, they can be accessed anytime in the future.
How to Create a Filter View in Google Sheets
Below is a video to show the step-by-step for creating a filtered view that will not affect others.
Click on Data
Go down to Filter views
Click on Create a new filter view
Name the filter view (and filter to your needs)
Check to make sure the Range is correct
You can also sort within a column's filter
This is automatically saved, so you can just close out of the overlying filter view.
Filtered views can easily be seen as insignificant at the moment, but filtering is an essential part of analyzing data. Whether you are a busy manager, a student, or a school teacher, spreadsheets will play a part in any role. Though this is just a small feature in Google Sheets, it can make life easier and help avoid disasters amongst a group of people. So take control of your data with filter views, it may impress others and create a more efficient team.