How to remove a single filter option from a long list of available filter options?

Question

What would be the best way to remove a single filter option from a lengthy list of available filter options instead of having to select all the other filters to remove that single filter from the results?

As an example, I did a search on blenders on Amazon. The filter returned some options for "brands". I would like to see all the brand, except "Ninja" since perhaps I had a Ninja before, really disliked the product, hence I would like to view all other brands except for the ones manufactured by Ninja.

How would you visually/functionally do this? any examples from other sites who accomplish this well?

Thanks for your help and input!

Answer 1

The first solution that comes to mind is a checkbox on top of the others toggling "All".

Otherwise, see Baymard Institute archive and search for (CTRL+F) "filter".

Answer 2

An option, not often used on the Web but quite common in desktop apps is for the check box to have three states.

Unchecked Checked Crossed

Each click cycles through the three options, with the cross being explicitly to exclude that option.

Source: https://giweb.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/three-state-tri-state-checkboxes-in-html/

Answer 3

There used to be invert selection button in computer file managers (and it probably still exists, just the programs are not that widely used or it is hidden in the menus or under a shortcut).

It has a non-zero learning curve since the action is not entirely intuitive, but it worked well. However, if people are expected to be recurring, as in the case of amazon, it may make sense. The problem is that you need to display all the options (not only "the most popular ones") or things get confusing, so this is not possible if there's too many options. But as long as the whole list can be displayed, this shall work well.