Did you know Google Sheets has two types of filters, and mixing them up can cause serious confusion?
- Filters (default) are public and affect everyone. When a filter is applied, data is hidden for all users across all browser sessions until the filter is removed.
- Filter Views are private and only visible to the current user.
If data seems to be missing in a shared Google Sheet, always check if a “Filter” is applied!
Filter without affecting others
Google Sheets Filter Views
Now, for a mildly amusing story:
While working on some data management tasks, a review in a Google Spreadsheet revealed that important information seemed to be missing. Certain that the data had been present before, a frantic effort began to manually recreate the missing records. Fortunately, a quick check in Google Sheets History confirmed that the data was still there—so no real harm done.
But why had so many records seemingly disappeared? Well, as it turned out, a regular filter had been applied… Simply turning it off restored everything.
Lesson learned: If data “vanishes” in a shared Google Sheet, don’t panic—check both Filters and Filter Views first!