Not sure whether this is a feature request or help request, but here goes:
It seems like the ‘filter_by_value’ behavior is modeled after Google Sheets and not Excel.
When you enter a search term and select from the resulting list, items not explicitly deselected before doing the search will be part of the filtering condition. This is confusing to Excel users, which are used to that items not in the list filtered by the search term is always filtered out (unless they explicitly add them to the filter between search operations).
Is there some option or API that I can use to make the filter by value feature behave like Excel and not Google Sheets? If not, please consider this a feature request 
Hi @tore_senneseth
So as I assume the only thing we’re missing here is to erase the filter by value and then allow the user to pick his options? Here’s a demo you can test http://jsfiddle.net/handsoncode/484pnnmm/
Hi, thanks for the reply.
Closer, but not quite. In Excel, the items not visible in the list is always filtered out, even though they were selected during a previous search (not necessarily applied by pressing OK). So if all items are pre-selected when you open the menu, and then you type a search term, only the items visible in the list (which is also selected) will be included in the result set. Items hidden will be filtered out. Excel have an option for adding / fixing items to a filter, so you can do multiple searches before applying the filter.
Is the API you showed me a supported API, or is it internal?
Hi @tore_senneseth
sorry to say that we haven’t added a possibility like that yet. It sounds helpful though.