filtering more than one item in the same column

fyi i've posted this on another forum as well but haven't gotten a result yet.
[ http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/excel-q...w-filters.html ]

i want to know how to filter two different items in the same column. at the moment i'm working with a spreadsheet that has 100K lines. the column i want to filter is artist, which has hundreds of unique entries. lets say i want to show only those rows which are relevant to artists '50 Cent' and 'Usher'. So I click the filter dropdown and type 50 cent; what do I do after that? If I then search for Usher, all my results are either only Usher, or they include every artist in the spreadsheet. How do I search for just those 2?

wow that was fast! thanks fellows

@tom, im using excel 2010.

@lafferty, what if i want to do this for 3 or 4 artists? is there a way to do this without custom filter? for example if i goto filter and type in 50 cent it goes straight to that entry; once i click the checkbox next to him is there some way i can search for usher, check the box next to his name, and then only those two artists have a checkbox next to them ?

ahh OK fixed the signature. i use 2007 at home, 2010 at work.

re: the question itself, not sure how to clarify. is there anything specific in there that's confusing you?

Originally Posted by tigeravatar

Can't you just check the boxes manually on the filter drop-down list? am I missing something?

Originally Posted by tom1977

If you want filter two item of the list you simple select two boxes next to items and that's it.

yes this would work if it was 20 or so entries. i have hundreds of unique entries which means to filter two different artists i have to scroll thru a fairly long list (keep in mind this list doesnt appear in the whole excel sheet, just a small 'popup' of sorts). that's why im looking for a way around it.

Originally Posted by tigeravatar

The only way around it is going to be VBA. If you're ok with a macro in your file, I can provide you with some code that will perform as desired.

i'd prefer to avoid that. but i appreciate the offer

Originally Posted by tom1977

You can always press e.g. "u" and your list will navigate you to items which start with letter "u"

yes that works when we're doing just one artist. but when we're doing two artists either only one stays checked, or all of them get checked.

i cant help but think the solution to this is v simple im just missing exactly how to go about it. but ive tried various combinations and none have worked so far.