Filter views vs filters in Google Sheets - Formula Comparison Trace

Sample Data

Employee data with Name, Department, and Salary columns.

Cell	Value
A1	Name
B1	Department
C1	Salary
A2	Alice
B2	Sales
C2	50000
A3	Bob
B3	Marketing
C3	55000
A4	Charlie
B4	Sales
C4	52000
A5	Diana
B5	HR
C5	48000
A6	Evan
B6	Marketing
C6	53000

Formula Trace

FILTER(A2:C6, B2:B6 = "Sales")

Step 1: B2:B6 = "Sales"

Step 2: FILTER(A2:C6, [TRUE, FALSE, TRUE, FALSE, FALSE])

Cell Reference Map

    A       B          C
1 | Name  | Department | Salary |
2 | Alice | Sales     | 50000  |
3 | Bob   | Marketing | 55000  |
4 | Charlie| Sales    | 52000  |
5 | Diana | HR        | 48000  |
6 | Evan  | Marketing | 53000  |

Filter uses B2:B6 to check 'Sales' and returns matching rows from A2:C6.

The formula references the Department column B2:B6 to filter rows from A2:C6 where Department is 'Sales'.

Result

Filtered Result:
Name    Department  Salary
Alice   Sales       50000
Charlie Sales       52000

The FILTER formula shows only employees in the Sales department, hiding others.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the FILTER formula FILTER(A2:C6, B2:B6 = "Sales") do?

A Deletes rows not in Sales department

B Shows all rows but highlights Sales department

C Shows only rows where Department is Sales

D Sorts rows by Salary

Key Result

FILTER(range, condition) returns rows from range where condition is TRUE.