Dashboard filters help you focus on specific data within a dashboard. You can configure filters to apply to all visualizations on the dashboard or just specific ones. Dashboard filters can override the filters set within a report visualization, provided both filters are mapped to the same field.
When you change dashboard filter values while viewing a dashboard, the data is only filtered for your view and doesn't impact other users. Unlike the dashboard-level filters, visualization-level filters can't be changed unless you're authorized to edit them.
Adding dashboard filters
By default, the dashboard includes filters from the first visualization added to the dashboard. To add a new filter to your dashboard:
- Select Edit Dashboard from the Dashboard’s three-dot icon menu.
- Select Filters > Add Filter. Search for and select a field to filter by.
You can search by keyword or choose from the list of fields below.
Advanced Filters
Select the Advanced toggle to add filters on fields not included in the Explores (datasets) used in the existing reports. Select the Filter by search box to choose from other Models and Explores.
Filter settings
Upon selecting a filter field, the Add Filter window presents various settings:
- Title: Sets the filter's dashboard display name.
- Control: Customize the appearance of filters for dashboard viewers. Select Advanced for the most flexibility for applying filters.
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Configure default value: Choose a default value for the filter.
- For some field types, you can select + next to the filter to add new conditions. To remove a condition, select X next to that condition.
- You can use the matches (advanced) option and enter filter expressions like “3 days ago”.
- Allow multiple filter values: Appears when Advanced is selected in the Control dropdown. It allows more than one filter value to be selected.
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Additional options:
- Requiring Filter Values: Enable to enforce the selection of a filter value before the dashboard is run.
- Select filters to update when this filter changes: Enable to enforce users to update other specified filters when this filter is updated.
Tiles to update
For each filter, you can choose which tiles are updated and the field to filter. If you add new tiles to the dashboard that use the same Explore as an existing filter, the filter will apply to those new tiles by default.
If the dashboard includes tiles created using other Explores, you can find a similar field in the Explore data the filter can apply to.
Example
To filter on transaction dates across Community Investment and Donate programs, you could choose the following fields to filter:
- Community Investment Explore tile: Payment Added Date
- Donation Explore tile: Transaction Date
In the Field to Filter section, choose the field each tile will be filtered by, or select Do Not Filter to exclude individual tiles from the filter. If a new filter uses the same field as an existing filter, any tiles linked to the old filter aren’t available for the new one.
Note: If you apply filters to a merged results tile and later modify the merge (such as changing the order or adding/removing queries), all filters for that tile will be turned off. To reapply, go to the Tiles To Update tab in the Add/Edit Dashboard Filters window and re-enable the tile.
Select Add to add your filter to the dashboard.
Managing dashboard filters
Moving filters
To move and rearrange dashboard filters:
- Switch the dashboard to edit mode and find the filter you want to move.
- Hover over it to see a six-dot icon at the filter's top left. Select the icon and drag it to reposition the filter.
You can decide which filters show directly on the dashboard and which are hidden under a More button. If there's no More button yet, one will appear when you start to drag the filter. Drop the filter on the button to add it to the dropdown list.
Editing or deleting filters
In edit mode, a three-dot icon appears next to every filter. To edit a filter, select the icon. This opens the filter menu, which displays options to Edit or Delete a filter.
Dashboard filter settings
You can find the following settings in the dashboard edit mode by selecting Filters.
Apply filter edits to alerts
If you've set alerts on your dashboard, turning on Apply filter edits to alerts is recommended. This way, if you change the dashboard's filters after setting an alert, the alert will respond to these new settings. If you don't enable this, the alert will only consider the original filter settings.
For instance, if your dashboard has an alert for when the number of donors in the UK exceeds 500 in a day, and you change the country filter from the UK to the US without enabling this option, the alert will still use the UK settings. But if you enable the option, and then change the filter to the US, the alert will now look for when US donors exceed 500.
Simply put, without this option, your alert won't notice any filter changes you make on the dashboard.
Cross-filtering
Enable this setting to allow cross-filtering on the dashboard. Not all visualization types are compatible with cross-filtering. Cross-filtering is also not compatible with dashboards with more than one Explore. These visualizations can be filtered, but you cannot interact with them to create cross-filters.
Filtering dashboards with visualizations using merged results
When your dashboard includes tiles based on merged results from different Explores, updating filters requires careful attention to ensure they function as intended. Here's how to manage filters in such scenarios:
- Add dashboard filters using the steps described above.
- Choose the tiles to update.
- When adding or editing a filter, go to the Tiles To Update tab. Here, you can specify which tiles the filter should apply to.
- For the filter to work on a merged results tile, the field you're filtering by must exist in the primary query of the merged result. You can find out which query is the primary one by opening the visualization data and looking at the source queries on the left. The primary one is indicated.
The merged results feature combines data similarly to a left join, which can lead to null values if matching data isn't found in secondary queries. Be mindful of this when applying filters, as it may affect the displayed data.