Filtering based on their color fill

Question

Level 1

4 points

Filtering based on their color fill

I am a long time Excel user and learned to appreciate the option to filter and select rows of data based on their color fill. This gives an addition dimension in your data selection. I am making the journey to swap to Numbers but fail to find a replacement for this handy Excel function. Since I have tons of spreadsheet where this function is used it would be nice to have something similar in Numbers to avoid color coding with values of text.

I am using Numbers mainly on my Macbook and sometimes on my iPAD.

Thanks in Advance.

MacBook Pro (2021)

Posted on Mar 8, 2025 4:01 AM

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Answer 1

Camelot

Level 9

58,299 points

Mar 8, 2025 3:36 PM in response to rvdmost

I've never used that feature before (TBH, didn't know it was an option), but I can see how it could be useful.

Feedback - Numbers - Apple would be the appropriate place to make feature requests.

In the meantime, the closest I think you can get is with some adjacent column that stores whatever you're using for color coding, and filtering on that.

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Answer 2

Yellowbox

Level 7

21,939 points

Mar 8, 2025 8:33 PM in response to rvdmost

Hi rvdmost,

rvdmost wrote:

...it would be nice to have something similar in Numbers to avoid color coding with values of text.

How are you deciding on colour coding now in Excel? Surely you must have some rules in your head to help you decide which colour to apply. Those same rules can be used in Numbers Conditional Highlighting. And those same rules can be used in your filter.

So, what is your overall aim?

Regards,

Ian.

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Answer 3

rvdmost Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 9, 2025 3:13 AM in response to Yellowbox

Hi, thanks for your reply.

There are not always measurable rules assigned to the used colour. It could be the status, taste or situation. The beauty of being able to use colour is that it gives you an extra dimension without the need for additional columns of formulas.

I am not so much interested in the discussion why I should or should not use this option because given the fact Excel had this possibility I used it in the past a lot. My source is a given and I am looking for a similar function to avoid conversion. New sheets I build differently with the knowledge I have about Numbers.

I also had a look at some of the other free spreadsheet solutions like LibreOffice which as far as I know and found all miss a colour filter option like Numbers.

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