How to Use Criteria From Excel for a Query
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application that organizes data into columns and rows. Its grid structure makes it easy to enter data of any kind for the management of lists, numbers, or other forms of content. Many users only exploit the basic tools offered by Excel. However it contains a robust filtering engine to create complex queries based on any criteria you desire. You can specify the criteria directly within an Excel spreadsheet and process the query based on those parameters. These techniques may take some practice but once learned they are a powerful addition to your Excel skills.
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Instructions
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Open the Excel spreadsheet that you want to query using criteria. Queries are most effective on database-style content. While Excel places no restrictions on the location of data in a spreadsheet, its filter tools do rely on the data existing in a confined list. The data should run down through a column with no empty rows.
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Create a new blank row above the data range youwant to query. Right-click the top row of the data and choose "Insert." Note you must perform the right-click on the actual row number, not just any cell within the row.
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Type the criteria for the query into the cells of the new row. Each piece of criteria corresponds to the column beneath it. For example, if you had a list of prices and wanted to query only those items with prices above $10, type ">10" in the blank cell above the price column.
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Select the "Data" menu and choose the "Filter" sub-menu. Click the "Advanced Filter" command.
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Specify the cell ranges for the data as well as the criteria. Excel may correctly guess these ranges automatically. If it does not, click in the field for each range and drag with the mouse over the cells for that field.
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Press the "OK" button. A query is performed using the criteria you typed into Excel.
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