I have a Google Sheets column where each cell contains both text and a percentage value. For example, my data looks like ‘Item A (25%)’, ‘Item B (40%)’, and ‘Item C (60%)’. When I try to use the built-in filter feature, it shows each complete entry as a separate filter option. I want to filter based only on the text part and ignore the percentage values. Is there a way to make the filter recognize just the text portion? I’ve tried searching online but can’t find a solution that doesn’t involve splitting the data into separate columns.
Try using FILTER with REGEXMATCH - no helper columns needed. =FILTER(A:A, REGEXMATCH(A:A, "Item A")) pulls all rows with “Item A” in them, regardless of what else is there. So “Item A (25%)” will show up when you search “Item A”. Way more flexible than the dropdown filters, and it doesn’t mess with your original data. You can throw wildcards into REGEXMATCH too for partial matches. I use this all the time when cells have mixed content and regular filters get annoying.
You can work around this with a custom filter view. Go to Data > Create a filter view, then click the filter dropdown for your column. Type just the text part you want in the search box at the top. Sheets will show only entries containing that text, even with percentages after it. This keeps your original data untouched and doesn’t need any formulas. I use this all the time for product codes or item names with different suffixes. The search function in filter dropdowns is way more flexible than most people think - handles partial text matching really well.
Yeah, doing this manually gets old fast. I deal with this constantly for sales data and product catalogs.
I just automate the whole thing now. Set up a workflow that connects to Google Sheets, pulls out the text using pattern matching, and creates filtered views based on whatever I need.
Best part? Set triggers so it updates when your data changes. No more typing search terms or making helper columns every time. You can build a simple interface where your team picks what they want and gets filtered results instantly.
Did this for our product team when they were drowning in messy spreadsheets. Now they click what they need and get clean results without touching formulas.
Latenode works great for this - handles Google Sheets perfectly and you can set up text extraction without coding: https://latenode.com
if u want 2 filter just the text in those cells, try using a helper column. like this: =LEFT(A1,FIND(“(”,A1)-2). it grabs the text only. then u can filter that column without affecting the original. hope it helps!