Since I've had a hard time understanding your explanations, and I don't think we've been provided with enough comprehensive details (or they're changing every time you post) to be expected to provide you with the RIGHT solution, I'm just going to post what I would do with my own made-up scenario. You can surely tweak it to fit yours.
This should be very simple. First, I'd never use Me.Filter. Rather, set the recordsource explicitly, then requery. This leaves no doubt.
Let's say I have a form bound to a table called TBL_ORDERS. But I want to filter it to where CUSTOMER_NAME Like "*Johnson*".
And I had a text box where the user could type that. I might have this behind a command button.
Code:
Me.Recordsource="SELECT * FROM TBL_ORDERS WHERE CUSTOMER_NAME LIKE " & CHR(34) & "*" & ME.TXTCRITERIA & "*" & CHR(34)
Me.Requery