# Problem filtering table **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask the Community\ **Created:** [November 4, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875 "2019-11-04T13:55:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alexander\_Schwarz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/alexander_schwarz/32/5734_2.png) [@Alexander\_Schwarz](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Alexander_Schwarz)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/1 "2019-11-04T13:55:49Z")
I feel stupid. I try to do something apparently obvious but I can’t get it to work. Playing around with Coda I try to set up a basic time tracking tool. - So I have a table that contains all my customers. - I have a second table with all tasks completed for different customers (looked up from table 1) - Then I have a selector to choose one customer I want to look at. - Finally I have a view of table 2 that I want to filter with my selector. But it doesn’t work, what am I missing? ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/2X/4/4773a0e46aab44437fd06109565903ae9a635e41.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Pch](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pch/32/17688_2.png) [@Pch](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pch)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/2 "2019-11-04T15:17:39Z")
Did you create yourself the select list or did you use “Create control” ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alexander\_Schwarz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/alexander_schwarz/32/5734_2.png) [@Alexander\_Schwarz](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Alexander_Schwarz)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/3 "2019-11-04T15:31:37Z")
I used “create control” ---
**Author:** ![Pch](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pch/32/17688_2.png) [@Pch](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pch)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/4 "2019-11-04T16:09:26Z")
From your screenshot, I can’t say what’s not working but I’ve tried to recreated it : Is this kind of “what you’re trying to do” ? https://coda.io/embed/QrKCMssC8k/_suscr?viewMode=embedplay&hideSections=true ---
**Author:** ![Alexander\_Schwarz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/alexander_schwarz/32/5734_2.png) [@Alexander\_Schwarz](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Alexander_Schwarz)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/5 "2019-11-04T17:35:22Z")
Yes, that’s precisely what I’ve tried to accomplish. But I still couldn’t see the difference. Can you? Here’s the link to my doc: https://coda.io/embed/hmGBUspfPe?viewMode=embedplay ---
**Author:** ![Pch](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pch/32/17688_2.png) [@Pch](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pch)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/6 "2019-11-04T17:59:51Z")
No effectively, I couldn’t see the difference 😉 . (Thanks for sharing 😉 ) But now, looking at your formula in your select list I can say that the customer in `Projekte` is a list of `Text` and I think that this is why it doesn’t work : you’re trying to compare 2 different things (text vs. “reference”) so it can’t work 😉 . It should work by using this formula : `Filter(Projekte,[Kürzel])` Instead of : `Projekte.[Kürzel]` ---
**Author:** ![Alexander\_Schwarz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/alexander_schwarz/32/5734_2.png) [@Alexander\_Schwarz](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Alexander_Schwarz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 5:37am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/7 "2019-11-05T05:37:03Z")
Thanks, I could make it work with your help, and I see the problem with different variable types, but I don’t understand how your solution fixes that. ---
**Author:** ![Pch](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pch/32/17688_2.png) [@Pch](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pch)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 6:13am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/8 "2019-11-05T06:13:33Z")
Glad to know you could make it work 😁 ! For the question, I’m really not sure that what I’m gonna say is correct, but I think that the formula `Projekte.[Kürzel]` was only returning a string without filtering anything, but the `Filter()` formula returns references to that field in that table. Maybe @mallika or @Ben_Lee could explain this better 😅 I’ve searched a little bit in the [Help Center](https://help.coda.io/en/) and found this : > **[References versus strings](https://help.coda.io/en/articles/2004334-references-versus-strings)** > > Learn how to access rows across your document and troubleshoot common filtering issues ---
**Author:** ![Alexander\_Schwarz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/alexander_schwarz/32/5734_2.png) [@Alexander\_Schwarz](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Alexander_Schwarz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 10:36am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/9 "2019-11-05T10:36:06Z")
Ok, next step: Now I want to pull the number of hours for the selected customer from table “Projekte” and show it here. My approach doesn’t work, might again be a problem with the variable type: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/2X/f/f06eb57d8e75f71213f6caee41c20a7fcc7feea8.png) I’ve read the doc that you’ve linked but I couldn’t apply it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Pch](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/pch/32/17688_2.png) [@Pch](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Pch)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 11:19am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/problem-filtering-table/11875/10 "2019-11-05T11:19:40Z")
It can be tricky to use formula on the canva but here I’ve got 2 apparently working formulas 😉 : Here, it’s not really a problem of different variables (well there is one in your `lookup()`), but a missing part and that’s why both formulas use `.Value` to indicate to the formula that you’re looking for a precise data for the actual `value` selected in your select list 😉 (otherwise, the data you’re looking for could be the data of any selectable options referenced by your select list). So you weren’t that far with your `Lookup()` 😉 Because your select list is already a reference, you can just use this first formula that sort of say that for the `.Value` selected in the select list, get the `Stundenziel` 😉 - `[Select-Kunde].Value.Stundenziel` ![23](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/2X/e/e7427ffe2a4cccbc29f0818de41b26c09d8231f9.png) The second formula is a `Lookup()` that compares the `Text` field `[Kürzel]` in your table `Projekte` to the actual `Value` of your select list, which is a reference at this point. So to pull out the `Text` field and make the comparison doable, you need to indicate where to get the `Text` : in this case, it’s the field `[Kürzel]` too : which gives you this part of the formula : `[Select-Kunde].Value.[Kürzel]` 🙂 . - `Lookup(Projekte,[Kürzel],[Select-Kunde].Value.[Kürzel]).Stundenziel` ![30](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/2X/d/d86c7dfdcbee3714f89a7b774da8b577fa78ceca.png) I’m not sure it’s very clear, but it’s really hard to explain those kind of subtleties 😅