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How to filter exact text in Excel?

Author Xiaoyang Last modified

Have you ever tried to exactly filter in Excel, it means to filter exact text. Normally, you can finish this job by using the Advanced Filter feature, and in this article, I will talk about some good tricks for you to filter exact text in Excel.

Filter exact text in Excel with Advanced Filter feature

Filter exact text in Excel with Custom Filter feature

Filter exact text in Excel with Kutools for Excel

arrow blue right bubble Filter exact text in Excel with Advanced Filter feature

For example, I have the following data range, and now, I just want to filter the cells content is KTE-1. Please do as follows:

sample data for exact match filter

1. Create the criterion in the worksheet, and then apply the Advanced Filter utility, please enter the column header name that you want to filter and enter this formula: ="=KTE-1" (KTE-1 is the text that you want to filter exactly) below the herder cell, and press Enter key, see screenshot:

enter a formula to create the criterion

2. Then click Data > Advanced, see screenshot:

click Data > Advanced

3. In the Advanced Filter dialog box, select Filter the list, in-place under the Action, and then specify the list range that you want to filter and the criteria range that you want to filter based on, see screenshot:

set criteria in the Advanced Filter dialog box

4. Then click OK button, the exact text that you want will be filtered as following screenshot shown:

the exact text will be filtered

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arrow blue right bubble Filter exact text in Excel with Custom Filter feature

In fact, the Auto Filter also can help you to achieve the result as you need.

1. Select the data range that you want to filter exact text.

2. Click Data > Filter to shown the arrow button.

3. And then click the arrow button at the lower right corner of the cell, and then select Text Filters > Custom Filter, see screenshot:

select Text Filters > Custom Filter from Filter drop down

4. In the popped out Custom AutoFilter dialog box, choose equals from the drop down list, and enter the text criteria that you want to filter based on, see screenshot:

set criteria in the Custom AutoFilter dialog box

5. Then click OK button to filter the exact text as you need.

arrow blue right bubble Filter exact text in Excel with Kutools for Excel

If you have Kutools for Excel, with its Super Filter utility, you can finish some complex filter, such as filter cells with multiple criteria, filter cells case sensitive, filter cells with text length, and so on.

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After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as follows:

1. Click Kutools Plus > Super Filter, see screenshot:

click Super Filter feature of kutools

2. In the Super Filter pane, click select button button to select the data range that you want to filter, and then click the horizontal line to expand the criteria box, see screenshot:

select dat arnge and click horizontal line to expand the criteria box

3. After expanding the criteria box, select and enter the criteria as you need into the criteria box one by one, see screenshot:

select and enter the criteria in the criteria box

4. Then click Filter button, the exact text that you need will be filtered out, see screenshot:

the exact text will be filtered out

Note: With this powerful Super Filter feature, you can also filter by text length, filter text case sensitive as following screenshos shown:

Filter by text length: Filter text with case sensitive:
filter by text length with kutools Filter text with case sensitive by kutools

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Related articles:

How to filter comma separated data in Excel?

How to filter data by multiple colors in Excel?

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