A filter selects a group of contact records that share one or more identical characteristics. The term filter is used because it sifts for items that are similar and separates them from items that are different.
Filters let you separate a group of contact records, based on common criteria of your choice, from of all contact records in the database. An active filter also changes the sequence and view so that you can move forward (F) and backward (B) through the filtered group of records only.
When you use a filter, you can select data using any field criteria from a contact record or an activity. For example, you might want to select only those records for people or businesses located in California. In this case, you would run a filter that selects records with CA in the state field.
Perhaps you have a database containing the names and addresses of doctors and lawyers, and you have differentiated these records using DOC and LAW in a field called Profession. If you want to select all doctors and not work with the lawyers, you would use a filter that selects records with DOC in the Profession field. You could narrow the range of records further if you want to work with records containing information on doctors in California by creating a filter that selects records with CA in the State field and DOC in the Profession field.
You can use only one filter at a time. You can design as many filters as you want and save them to use again in the future.