Excel Filter Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+L and the keys inside the filter
Filtering without touching the mouse — every step has a key.
Turn filters on or off
Click any cell in the data, press Ctrl + Shift + L. Again to remove. Mac: ⌘ + Shift + F.
Open a column’s filter menu
Move to the heading cell, press Alt + Down arrow.
Inside the menu
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| E | Jump to the search box — type to filter the list |
| Space | Tick / untick the highlighted value |
| Arrow keys | Move through the values |
| S | Sort A to Z |
| O | Sort Z to A |
| C | Clear the filter on this column |
| Enter | Apply |
| Esc | Close without changing |
Filter to just one value, fast
Alt + Down, E, type the value, Enter. Done.
Clear every filter on the sheet
Press Alt, A, C (one after the other).
Filter by the selected cell’s value (mouse)
Right-click a cell › Filter › Filter by Selected Cell’s Value.
Check it worked
Filtered row numbers turn blue; the status bar says “x of y records found”.
The full filter lesson: Excel filter.
20 years with spreadsheets and enterprise systems. Writes one short, plain-English Excel lesson a day. Got an Excel question? learnexceleasycom@gmail.com
