{"id":2324,"date":"2026-09-22T16:29:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T08:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/?p=2324"},"modified":"2026-03-28T13:05:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T13:05:47","slug":"how-to-use-worksheetfiltermode-in-the-xlwings-api-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/how-to-use-worksheetfiltermode-in-the-xlwings-api-way\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use Worksheet.FilterMode in the xlwings API way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The FilterMode<\/strong> property of a Worksheet<\/strong> object in the xlwings API is a read-only property that returns a Boolean value indicating whether the worksheet currently has any active autofilters applied. Specifically, it checks if the worksheet is in “filter mode,” meaning one or more columns have filter dropdowns enabled due to an autofilter being turned on. This is useful for programmatically determining the state of filters before performing operations like data processing or clearing filters, ensuring that your automation scripts can adapt dynamically to the worksheet’s condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syntax and Parameters:<\/strong>
In xlwings, you access this property through a Sheet<\/code> object (which corresponds to an Excel worksheet). The property does not take any arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sheet.api.FilterMode<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, sheet<\/code> is an xlwings Sheet<\/code> object. The .api<\/code> attribute provides direct access to the underlying Excel object model (via COM on Windows or AppleScript on macOS), allowing you to use properties like FilterMode<\/code> as defined in the Excel VBA documentation. The property returns True<\/code> if the worksheet is in filter mode, and False<\/code> otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Code Examples:<\/strong>
Below are practical examples of using the FilterMode<\/code> property in xlwings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Checking Filter Mode State:<\/strong>
    This example opens an Excel workbook, selects a specific sheet, and checks if filters are active.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    import xlwings as xw\n\n# Open the workbook and reference the sheet\nwb = xw.Book(\"example.xlsx\")\nsheet = wb.sheets[\"Sheet1\"]\n\n# Check if the sheet is in filter mode\nif sheet.api.FilterMode:\n    print(\"The worksheet has active autofilters.\")\nelse:\n    print(\"No autofilters are currently applied.\")<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Conditional Operations Based on Filter Mode:<\/strong>
      This script uses FilterMode<\/code> to decide whether to clear existing filters before applying new ones, preventing errors or unintended behavior.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      import xlwings as xw\n\nwb = xw.Book(\"data.xlsx\")\nsheet = wb.sheets[0]\n\n# If filters are already on, clear them\nif sheet.api.FilterMode:\n    sheet.api.AutoFilterMode = False # Turn off autofilter mode\n    print(\"Existing filters cleared.\")\n\n# Apply a new autofilter to a range (e.g., A1:D100)\nsheet.range(\"A1:D100\").api.AutoFilter(1)\nprint(\"New autofilter applied.\")<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. Monitoring Filter Changes:<\/strong>
        In a more dynamic scenario, you might loop through multiple sheets to report their filter status.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        import xlwings as xw\n\nwb = xw.Book(\"report.xlsx\")\n\nfor sheet in wb.sheets:\n    status = \"Active\" if sheet.api.FilterMode else \"Inactive\"\n    print(f\"Sheet '{sheet.name}' has filters: {status}\")<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
        The **FilterMode** property of a **Worksheet** object in the xlwings API is a read-only property tha…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-xlwings-api-reference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3543,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions\/3543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xlwings.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}