Filter Definition dialog box

Use the Filter Definition dialog box to create or change a custom filter. You can:

• Define the criteria, including the field, test, and value, that tasks or resources must meet to be displayed or highlighted by the filter.

• Change the set of filters that appears on the Filtered for submenu.

Dialog box location

On the Project menu, point to Filtered For, and then click More Filters. Click New.

Details

Name box

Specifies a name for the filter being defined.

Check boxes

Show in menu     Select this check box to display the filter name in the Filtered for submenu. By default, this check box is cleared.

Show related summary rows     Select this check box to display the summary rows for tasks, resources, or assignments that meet the defined criteria. By default, this check box is cleared.

Command buttons

Cut Row     Removes the selected row from the filter definition table and temporarily stores it on the Clipboard.

Copy Row     Duplicates the row selected in the filter definition table and temporarily stores it on the Clipboard.

Paste Row     Inserts the row temporarily stored on the Clipboard above the selected row in the filter definition table.

Insert Row     Inserts a blank row above the selected row in the filter definition table.

Delete Row     Permanently removes the selected row in the filter definition table.

Filter definition table

Use the filter definition table to define the criteria that tasks or resources must meet to be displayed or highlighted. The criteria includes the operators (and/or), field names, tests, and values.

And/Or     If the filter contains more than one criterion row, enter an operator for each row, that is, And or Or. The effect of an And operator is that the criteria for both rows must be met for the task or resource to be displayed or highlighted as a result of this filter. The effect of an Or operator is that the criteria for one or the other row must be met. If you don't enter an operator, the And operator is used by default.

By using the And and Or operators, you can create grouped criteria for a filter. Instead of filters for filtered text, you can create one group of filter criteria in one row, put the And or Or operator in the second row, and then create the second group of filter criteria in the third row. Information for the first criterion is filtered, and independently the information for the second criterion is filtered. Then the two sets of information are related to each other with the And or Or.

Field Name    All Microsoft Office Project fields are included in this list of field names. Click the field whose contents you want to test. Project checks the contents of this field for all of the tasks or resources in the current view. If the contents of the field meet the test that you specify, the task or resource is displayed or highlighted.

Test    Type a test, or click one from the list. Project uses the test to compare the value or values you type in the Value(s) box with the field information for each task or resource. Project informs you if a test is not valid for the field you have selected.

Tests

equals    Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents exactly match the value. The field may not contain any values other than the matched value. For example, if you filter a task view to show tasks whose Resource Name field equals "Jane Clayton," Project displays all the tasks to which only "Jane Clayton" is assigned. Project does not display the tasks to which "Jane Clayton (Supervisor)" is assigned or to which "Jane Clayton" and several other resources are assigned.

does not equal     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents do not exactly match the value.

is greater than     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents are greater than the value.

is greater than or equal to     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents are greater than or equal to the value.

is less than     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents are less than the value.

is less than or equal to     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents are less than or equal to the value.

is within     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents fall within the range specified by the two values.

is not within     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents fall outside of the range specified by the two values.

contains     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents contain the value. For example, if you filter for tasks whose Name field contains "develop," Project displays "Develop documentation" as well as "Have development team review specs."

does not contain     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents do not contain the value.

contains exactly     Displays or highlights tasks or resources whose field contents contain a task or resource that exactly matches the value. This is different from the equals test because the contains exactly test can operate on fields such as Resource Names or Predecessors, which can list multiple values at once. For example, suppose you create the filter: Resource Names contain exactly Jane. Now suppose you have a resource named Jane assigned to Task 1, Jane Clayton assigned to Task 2, and Jane and Jane Clayton assigned to Task 3. Task 1 and Task 3 would meet the contains exactly criteria. If you created the filter: Resource Names equals Jane, only Task 1 would meet the criteria.

Value(s)    Enter the numbers, dates, or text that the field contents are to be tested against. You can also click a field from the list to compare its contents with the contents of the field specified in the Field Name column. Values must match the type of field they are being tested against. For example, if you have selected Cost for the field name, you cannot use Finish Date in the Value(s) field. When inappropriate values are entered in the Value(s) field, Project displays a message when you attempt to close the dialog box.

Entering values

If the field entered is associated with multiple values, the Value(s) field provides a list of those values from which to choose. For example, if Constraint Type is the field entered, then Value presents a list of the different constraint types. If Booking is the field entered, then Value presents a list of the two booking choices: Proposed and Confirmed.If outline codes and other custom fields such as Date1 or Cost3 are defined with a multiple value list, those custom lists also become available when filtering.

Separating values for a range     To indicate a range for the is within or is not within test, separate the values with the list-separator character. For example, if you have selected is within for the Test column, you can find tasks that fall within two dates by typing 1/1/00,2/1/00

Using wildcards     You can use wildcards as part of the value when the test is equals or does not equal. The question mark (?) wildcard and the asterisk (*) wildcard can appear anywhere in the text. For example, all of the following are valid values: Install*Clock????-401*

If you want to filter using a character reserved for use as a wildcard, type a caret (^) in front of the character. For example, to filter for tasks that include an asterisk in their name, type ^*.

Defining interactive filters     To create an interactive filter, type a message enclosed in quotation marks, followed by a question mark (?). For example, "Enter date:"? When you apply this filter, a dialog box appears and displays the typed message. You use this dialog box to enter the value or range of values to be tested against the field specified in the Field Name column.

Defining calculated filters     To create a calculated filter, type a field name enclosed in square brackets ([ ]) or click a field name from the list. When you apply the filter, Project compares the value in the field you specify with the value in the field specified in the Field Name column.

You cannot use wildcards when specifying a calculated filter.

Filtering for no value     In date fields, if you want to filter for fields that have no date, you can type NA in the Value(s) field. In number and currency fields, to filter for no number, enter 0. If you want to filter for text fields that have no text entered, leave the Value(s) field blank.

Note: Filtering does not recalculate information based on the information showing in the filter. For example, suppose Chris and Sean are assigned to a task, for a resource cost of $100 each and a total of $200. If you apply a filter to show Sean's tasks, the resource cost for the task still shows $200, even though Sean is the only resource showing. If you want a filter to recalculate, you need to combine the filter with a group. The group summary bar shows recalculations reflecting the contents of the group.