IDEA: Right-click on the data for quick filtering

Side note: if you have not been made aware of the amazing, data-crunching power of IDEA, I highly recommend taking a look.

Within a data file, you can quickly and easily create a filtered list using the right-click menu. Simply locate the particular data you want to use for your filter (in the screenshot below, an account number), and click “Display all records containing…”

A dialog box will appear with several options.

Here, you may do any of the following:

• Edit the value used for the filter
• For a numeric filter (for example, a dollar amount), you may change the “Operator” option to >, <, >=, <=, or <>to utilize the amount in different ways
• By default, the operator is “==”, but that can be changed to “=” to shorten the value and expand the filter. For example, if I wanted the above filter to show all account numbers that begin with “111”, I would change the operator to “=” and shorten the value to “111”.
• If there is already a filter criterion on the data file, you’ll have the option to select or deselect the “Add to current criteria” checkbox. This allows for multiple criteria to be implemented one step at a time.

Once the filter is applied, it will appear in the Properties section on the right side of the screen. Here, you can clear, edit, or copy the criteria.

Also, if you initiate an extraction, export, or any other database operation, the criteria will automatically appear in the resulting dialog box.

For more detail on entering criteria using equations, go to Help -> Contents -> Using the Equation Editor -> Building Equations.