Filter conditions let you limit which rows to display. Each filter is specific to a particular column in the table. As an example, you have customers from all around the world, but you only want to see the data for your Canadian customers. You would set up a filter that means, "Only show me a customer record if its COUNTRY column has the value CANADA."
To apply a filter condition, right-click the column that interests you and then select Filter. The Filter dialog box lets you specify simple conditions, such as Country Equals CANADA. When you apply the filter, the Browser window hides the rows that do not satisfy the filter condition.
To see even fewer rows, you would apply filter conditions to other columns.
To return to your original view, which shows all rows, right-click the Browser window and then select Clear Filter. You can also find this command on the TABLE tab, in the Sort and Filter group, by clicking Filter, Clear Filter.
Sorting the data in a Browser window is similar to filtering the data. To begin, right-click the column that interests you and then choose from the sort commands in the context menu.
Clicking a column header produces a single-column sort; if you need to sort on multiple columns, on the TABLE tab, in the Sort and Filter group, click Sort, and Sort Multi Column.
Important things to note about sorting and filtering:
- Sort and Filter conditions are not saved directly in the .TAB file. To preserve your sort and filter conditions, save a workspace (.WOR) file.
- When you add new rows to a table, sort and filter conditions are automatically toggled off, so that all rows (including new rows) become visible. Newly-added rows display at the bottom of the Browser window. Once you are finished adding new rows, you can turn the sort and filter on again on the TABLE tab, in the Sort and Filter group, click Sort On/Off.
- Sort and filter conditions may be toggled off, or cleared altogether, after you use the Pick Fields dialog box. If you use the Pick Fields dialog box to remove a column or re-define that column's expression, any sort or filter condition on that column will be cleared. Also, if other columns in the Browser window have filter conditions, then those other column filters will be toggled off. If you remove any of the columns used in a multiple-column sort, the entire sort is cleared.