I have a spreadsheet containing a list of products for reference purposes.  
This list will often be utilized by searching for data in one column to see
if it exists and in many cases there will be multiple matches.  

I can do this by using a Custom auto filter using the "contains" operator.  
In an effort to not make people go through the process of clicking the filter
arrow, selecting "custom", etc. ... I was hoping I could just set up a cell
where a macro would grab that value and use it for the search criteria - that
way they could type the search keywords and hit a button for results.

I've found though that although while recording the macro I can copy and
paste the value from a cell into the filter area by using shortcut keys, the
macro script shows it as a static value, not a paste command.  Therefore each
time I run the macro using different keywords in the cell, it doesn't paste
the value of that cell in the filter area, it only just puts down the value
that was input when I created the macro.  Cell references don't seem to be
available to use there either.  I know this process would be easier in
Access, but I would prefer to keep this in Excel.

Any ideas?  Thanks.