How to organize and filter data with multiple categories and subcategories

rooiro

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Joined
Jan 17, 2018
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1
Context: I'm creating a database of resources for my team to use. The goal of the database is to allow people to sort the resources across multiple dimensions: topic, specificity, which projects they're related to, etc. All the data is text - there are no numbers.

Problem: Many resources belong to multiple categories within one dimension. For example, a specific resource might pertain to more than one topic. Ideally I'd like to be able to enter multiple topics into one cell separated by commas (for topic it'd be "Cyber, Defense, Innovation) and then be able to sort by any of the individual values in the cell. That doesn't seem to be possible though.

Tl;dr: how do you filter text data that varies across multiple categories, within which there are sub-categories? And how do you efficiently organize that data in your sheet so it can be filtered?

Thank you so much for any help you can provide! I really appreciate it.

Cheers!
 

Excel Facts

What did Pito Salas invent?
Pito Salas, working for Lotus, popularized what would become to be pivot tables. It was released as Lotus Improv in 1989.

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