You can use wildcards with Excel filters to find data that matches specific patterns. Here's how:

Using Asterisk (*) for Multiple Characters:

1. Activate the Filter: Select the data table and click on the "Data" tab. In the "Sort & Filter" group, click the "Filter" button. This will add filter arrows to the header row of your data.
2. Click the filter arrow: Click the down arrow next to the column you want to filter by wildcard.
3. Choose "Text Filters" and "Contains": In the filter dropdown menu, select "Text Filters" followed by "Contains."
4. Enter criteria with asterisk: In the text box that appears, type your search criteria with an asterisk (*). For example, "Prod*" will find all entries that begin with "Prod," like "Product", "Production", etc.

Using Question Mark (?) for Single Character:

1. Follow steps 1-3 above.
2. Choose "Text Filters" and "Contains": Navigate to "Text Filters" and select "Contains."
3. Enter criteria with question mark: Type your search criteria with a question mark (?) where you expect a single unknown character. For example, "S?ll" will find entries like "Sell", "Sail", or "Soul".

Additional Notes:

* The asterisk (*) can replace any number of characters, while the question mark (?) replaces only one character.
* Wildcards are not case-sensitive by default. To perform a case-sensitive search, you can combine wildcards with the SEARCH function (not FILTER function) and specify wildcards within the formula.
* You can combine multiple criteria using OR logic. For example, "Prod* OR Serv*" will find entries starting with "Prod" or "Serv".

By using wildcards effectively, you can quickly filter large datasets and find specific data patterns without needing to know the exact entries.