How to Save Filtered Data in Excel

You’ve sliced and diced your data in Excel, filtering it down to the exact information you need - but what now? Closing the file means losing that perfectly filtered view. Fortunately, you don't have to re-apply your filters every single time. This article will show you several ways to save your filtered data in Excel, from simple copy-paste methods to creating dynamic, reusable custom views.

First, A Quick Refresher on Filtering

Before saving your filtered view, you need to apply some filters. If you're new to this, here's a quick rundown. First, select any cell within your data range, go to the Data tab, and click the Filter button (it looks like a funnel). Little drop-down arrows will appear in your header row.

You can then click these arrows to sort your data or filter it based on specific values. For example, in a sales report, you could filter to show only sales from a particular region, a specific product category, or within a certain date range.

Once you’ve got your data narrowed down just right, you're ready to save it.

Method 1: The Classic Copy and Paste

The most straightforward method to save a filtered data set is by copying the visible rows and pasting them into a new worksheet or a new workbook entirely. Be careful, though - a standard copy-paste might grab the hidden rows, too. Here’s how to do it correctly.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Apply your filters to the dataset to hide the rows you don't want.
Once your data is filtered, select the entire range of your visible data, including the headers.
Now, you need to tell Excel to select only the visible cells. Go to the Home tab, click on Find & Select in the editing group, and choose Go to Special....
In the "Go to Special" dialog box, select the Visible cells only option and click OK.

Pro Tip: There's a much faster keyboard shortcut for this. On Windows, press Alt + ,. On a Mac, press Command + Shift + Z or Fn + Command + ,.

With only the visible cells selected, press Ctrl + C (or Cmd + C on a Mac) to copy the data.
Click the + icon at the bottom of the screen to create a new worksheet, or open a brand new Excel workbook.
Select an empty cell (like A1) in the new location and press Ctrl + V (or Cmd + V) to paste your filtered data.

You now have a clean copy of your filtered data in a new sheet. You can save this new tab, rename it for clarity, or save the entire new workbook as a separate file to share with colleagues without sending the original dataset.

Method 2: Save Your View with a Custom View

If you constantly find yourself applying the same combination of filters and print settings, copying and pasting will get old fast. Excel's "Custom Views" feature is a more elegant solution that lets you save specific filter and view settings that you can re-apply with just a few clicks, right within the same worksheet.

How to Create a Custom View

Apply all the desired filters, sorts, and even column widths or print areas you want to save.
Go to the View tab on the Ribbon.
In the Workbook Views group, click on Custom Views.
The Custom Views dialog box will pop up. Click the Add... button.
Give your view a descriptive name. For example, "Q4 Sales - West Region" is much better than "View 1."
Make sure both the "Print settings" and "Hidden rows, columns and filter settings" boxes are checked.
Click OK.

Your filter settings are now saved. To re-apply this view later, navigate to the View tab and click Custom Views. Select the name of the view you saved and click Show. Excel will instantly re-apply the exact filters and settings you had when you created the view. You can even create an 'All Data' custom view with no filters applied, making it easy to toggle back and forth between a full dataset and a specific slice of it.

A Quick Note on Limitations

The Custom Views feature is powerful but has a limitation: it does not work if your data is formatted as an official Excel Table. If you’ve used the “Format as Table” feature, the Custom Views option will be grayed out. In that case, the next method is for you.

Method 3: Turn Your Data into an Excel Table with Slicers

Formatting your data range as an Excel Table unlocks a world of dynamic functionality, including a more visual and persistent way to filter data using Slicers. A Slicer is basically a set of on-screen buttons you can click to filter your table data instantly.

Step 1: Format as Table

If your data isn't already a table, make it one. It's easy:

Click anywhere inside your data range.
Press Ctrl + T (or Cmd + T on Mac).
Ensure the "My table has headers" box is checked if your data has column titles, and click OK.

Your data is now in a structured Excel Table, which comes with its own filter dropdowns in the header row.

Step 2: Add Slicers

Now for the fun part. Slicers make filtering interactive and clear.

Click anywhere within your newly created table. A Table Design tab will appear on the Ribbon.
On the Table Design tab, click Insert Slicer.
A dialog box will appear listing all your table's columns. Check the box for each column you want to create a filter button for. For example, you might want slicers for "Region," "Product," and "Year."
Click OK.

Movable Slicer boxes will appear on your spreadsheet. You can now filter your table just by clicking the buttons in the Slicers. The Slicers will visually highlight what's currently filtered, so your “saved” view is always visible and can be changed in a single click. When you save and reopen the workbook, the slicers will remember their last state, effectively saving your filtered view.

Method 4: Use Advanced Filter to Extract Data

For more complex filtering criteria or recurring reports, Excel’s Advanced Filter is a fantastic tool that can filter your data and copy it to a new location in one step, bypassing the manual copy-paste process entirely.

The setup is a bit more involved, but its power lies in automation.

Step 1: Set Up Your Criteria Range

Advanced Filter works by reading your filtering rules from a dedicated "criteria range" you create on your spreadsheet.

Copy the header row of your main dataset and paste it somewhere else on your sheet, like a few empty rows above your data. This new set of headers is the start of your criteria range.
Underneath these new headers, type the conditions you want to filter by. For example, to find all sales from the "West" region for "Widgets," you would type "West" under the "Region" header and "Widgets" under the "Product" header in your criteria range.

Step 2: Apply the Advanced Filter

Click any cell inside your original dataset.
Go to the Data tab and click on the Advanced button in the Sort & Filter group.
The Advanced Filter dialog box will appear.
For the action, choose Copy to another location. This is crucial for saving the filtered data separately.
Excel will likely have auto-filled the List range (your main dataset). Double-check that it's correct.
For the Criteria range, select the headers and criteria you just set up a moment ago.
For the Copy to field, click into an empty cell somewhere else on your sheet where you want the filtered results to appear.
Click OK.

Excel will instantly run your filter and paste a clean, filtered dataset to the location you specified. The benefit here is that you can easily change the criteria in your criteria range and re-run the advanced filter at any time to generate a new report.

Final Thoughts

Excel offers multiple paths to save a filtered view, each suited for different needs. Whether you prefer a quick copy and paste, interactive filtering with slicers, or automating complex extractions with Advanced Filter, you can stop reapplying the same filters every time you open a report.

While these Excel techniques are powerful for analyzing a single dataset, the real challenge often comes from managing data scattered across different platforms like Google Analytics, Shopify, your CRM, and ad managers. Instead of manually exporting and filtering data from a dozen sources, we built Graphed to do the heavy lifting automatically. We let you connect your data sources in a few clicks, then you can build real-time, shareable dashboards just by asking questions like "Show me my top-selling products from Shopify side-by-side with my Facebook Ads spend for each." Your dashboards stay live and up-to-date, so you can stop spending your day building reports and start acting on insights.