Numbers: Identify and manage filters across tables/sheets

ozRob wrote:

Is there a way to find out which tables have filters, or to turn off all filters, without having to visit each sheet and focus each table one by one with the filters panel open?

A short script in a Shortcut is handy for that if you have to do this often.

To turn off all filters in all tables in all sheets in a document you can try this shortcut (in Safari click link to inspect and install).

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/391d3f7bfbe64cb3ba6d8297f84b2f61

To turn off just the filters in tables on the active sheet then try this.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/61c202d4ca5548ebab576e9d72e54044

With a document open you can access these via the Numbers > Services menu when you need them.

You don't need to know AppleScript to use them. But if you're iterated in enhancing (they are very simple) then here is the code contained in these shortcuts:

All filters in a document:

tell front document of application "Numbers Creator Studio"
	repeat with s in sheets
		tell s to repeat with t in tables
			tell t to if filtered then set filtered to false
		end repeat
	end repeat
end tell

Filters on just active sheet is even simpler:

tell front document of application "Numbers Creator Studio"
	tell active sheet to repeat with t in tables
		tell t to if filtered then set filtered to false
	end repeat
end tell

If you wanted to get fancy (probably not worth it because there are already some visual indications of skipped rows in the interface) you could have a script to identify which tables have a filter set (without turning the filter off), something like this, which appends (FILT) to the name:

tell front document of application "Numbers Creator Studio"
	tell active sheet to repeat with t in tables
		tell t to if filtered then
			set its name to its name & " (FILT)"
		end if
	end repeat
end tell

Depending on what version of Numbers you are using you may need to edit "Numbers Creator Studio" to be just "Numbers" in the code in the shortcuts.

If the Shortcuts don't seem to "do anything" then you may need to go into System Settings > Privacy & Security and give some permissions.

SG

Filters apply to tables. When you select a table, the filters for that table appear in the sidebar, like in your first image. If there are no filters for the currently selected table, the filter slider will be grayed out as it is in your second image. I hadn't noticed before, but if there are no tables that have a filter or if the filter slider is off (slid to the left) in all tables that do have filters, the slider will be grayed out in all tables, off (to the left), and no shade of green in the slider. It will only be on the right and with a shade of green if there is a table somewhere that has a filter.

When a sheet is open, Numbers does not put focus on a filtered table. The focus will be on whichever table had been previously selected on that sheet. If that's not the table you want selected, you need to select the table you want.

Yes, the only way to tell if a table has a filter is to select the table and look to see if it has one.

There is no master on/off switch for filters. Each table has its own switch.

There is likely a way to make a workaround using formulas and filters to create a "show all rows in all filtered tables" switch but this would not be the same as turning off the filters. The filters would still be on, which they should not be if you need to add, delete, or move rows in a table.

> Is there a way to find out which tables have filters, or to turn off all filters, without having to visit each sheet and focus each table one by one with the filters panel open?

This is a very fair question, and the answer is... not really... :(

The most obvious way to notice that a table is filtered is via the non-sequential row numbers:

Since the row numbers are not sequential, you can presume that the other rows are filtered out.

It's not perfect, though, since it still requires you to select the table to see the row numbers.

It isn't obvious how Numbers should show that the table is filtered, though. If you have suggestions, feel free to let Apple know.