XL: How to Display Top 10 Records with a Macro (141771)

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you can use the AutoFilter feature to filter a list based on simple criteria. For example, if you have a list of salespeople that has a column of names and a column containing each person's total sales for the month, you can use the AutoFilter to show the records for the top ten salespeople, based on their sales amounts for the month. The ability to display the top 10 items in a list is a new feature of the AutoFilter in Microsoft Excel versions 7.0 and 97. Excel adds the Top Ten feature to the drop-down list boxes that appear in all columns when you turn on the AutoFilter, but you can only use this feature on columns that contain numeric values.

You can customize the Top Ten feature in AutoFilter to filter a different number of top items in your list, such as the top 3 or top 100. You can modify this feature to display between 1 and 500 records. To manually change the number of items that appear in your AutoFilter top ten list to a number less than or greater than 10 (for example, if you want to show the top five items), click the arrow in the column you want to filter, click Top 10 in the drop-down list box, and then change the number of items in the Top Ten AutoFilter dialog box to the number of items you want to be displayed.

This article provides several samples of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro code that you can use to control the AutoFilter feature in Excel.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. Use the following sample data for each of the sample macros in this article:

   A1: Name   B1: Zone   C1: Amount
   A2: Bob    B2: a      C2: 3
   A3: Sue    B3: c      C3: 2
   A4: Mary   B4: a      C4: 6
   A5: Pete   B5: b      C5: 1
   A6: Paul   B6: b      C6: 4

Macro to Display the Top Ten Items

Because the sample list contains only five records total, this sample macro filters the top two items in the list based on the Amount field:

Sub Top_Ten()
   Range("A1").AutoFilter Field:=3, Criteria1:="2", Operator:=xlTop10Items
End Sub

If you run this macro from the sheet that contains the sample list, your list displays rows 4 and 6 only.

NOTE: You can filter more (or fewer) than 10 items using the Top Ten feature. To change the number of items that appear when you run this macro, set the "Criteria1" argument to the amount that you want.

Macro to Turn Off the AutoFilter

The following macro turns off the AutoFilter, and displays all of the records in the list. Note, if the AutoFilter is not on when you run this macro, the macro turns on the Autofilter, but because no criteria is specified, all records become visible.

Sub Clear_Filter()
   Range("A1").AutoFilter
End Sub

Macro to Display the Bottom Ten Items

When you click Top 10 from the AutoFilter list, the default setting is the top 10 items in the column. However, in the Top 10 AutoFilter dialog box, you can choose to display the Bottom 10 items instead.

The following macro filters the bottom two items from the list based on the Amount field:

Sub Bottom_Ten()
   Range("A1").AutoFilter Field:=3, Criteria1:="2", _
      Operator:=xlBottom10Items
End Sub

If you run this macro from the sheet that contains the list, your list displays rows 3 and 5 only.

NOTE: You can filter more (or fewer) than 10 items using the Top Ten feature. To change the number of items that appear when you run this macro, set the "Criteria1" argument to the amount that you want.