Filter Dashboards by Field Values

Considerations

• Dashboard filters don't support lookup fields, calculated fields and missing fields. If you want to add a lookup or calculated field, create a charts view and use it as a data source.

• If you have filters on a chart or dashboard, use an index to improve its performance.

Example Scenario

A dashboard Author creates a dashboard with charts that contain sales data for all of a company's customers. The author creates a filter allowing dashboard viewers to select which region(s) to display data from. Members of a sales team use this filter to display customer data only for the region(s) that they cover.

Filter Persistence Per Dashboard Viewer

Charts persists the following states for each dashboard viewer across reloads and user sessions:

• which filters are enabled or disabled

• field values chosen to filter dashboards

• whether the Dashboard Filters is expanded or collapsed.

The changes that a dashboard viewer makes to filters don't affect other Charts users. A viewer's saved filters are not affected when a dashboard Author or Owner modifies a filter's default values unless you reset a filter.

The Dashboard Filters Pane

The Dashboard Filters icon indicates the number of active filters. Click the icon to expand the Dashboard Filters pane.

click to enlarge

The Dashboard Filters pane displays a filter card for each field you can use to filter chart data. You can configure filter cards to use related fields from multiple data sources. When you update a field value, Charts updates dashboard charts to display data that matches the field values you provide from all configured data sources.

In the following example, a dashboard Author creates filters on the genres and year fields from two sample movie datasets. The Author sets default values for these fields to only display Science Fiction and History movies released in or after 1968. Dashboard Viewers can provide their own values for the filterable fields to refine chart data based on their interests.

click to enlarge

To learn about filtering options for each field data type, see Create Filters for Your Data.

Expand or Collapse Dashboard Filters

You can expand or collapse dashboard filter cards.

Disabled filters are automatically collapsed.

When enabled, collapsed filters still apply to your charts.

Add Dashboard Filters

You can specify fields that any dashboard users can filter data with. When you create a dashboard filter, you select related fields from the data sources that a dashboard chart uses. You can add dashboard filters based on any number of data sources that a dashboard chart uses.

Filter cards that use multiple data sources query each chart using the name of the field from the applicable data set.

To add a dashboard filter:

1. Expand the Dashboard Filters pane on the desired dashboard.

2. If a dashboard has no filters, click Add Filters. Otherwise, click Edit.

3. Expand a data source that contains fields you want to add a filter for.

4. Drag a field from the data source to the + filter drop zone.

   Tip

   To search for specific data fields, use the search bar at the upper left corner of the Edit Dashboard Filters pane.

   The data source name appears below the field name in the filter card.

5. (Optional) You can stack fields from other data sources. This allows you to use a single filter to refine chart data from related fields from multiple data sources.

   Note

   To stack fields in a filter card:

   • Each field must be of the same data type as the other fields on the filter card.

   • The filter card must not have another field from the selected data source on it.

   To stack fields from other data sources:

   1. Expand another data source that contains a related field.

   2. Drag a field from the data source to the + another field drop zone on the same filter card.

   The data source name appears below the field name and the other data sources you selected fields from in the filter card.

   Note

   The field names might differ from each data source. The filter card lists the field name you used to create the filter.

   Click next to a data source to remove its field from a filter card.

6. (Optional) Supply default values for the field in the filter card. All dashboard viewers see chart data that matches the default field values you provide until they provide their own filter values or disable the filter card.

   The filter card options are based on the data type of the field. To learn about filtering options for each field data type, see Create Filters for Your Data.

7. Use the toggle to disable or enable the filter card by default. If disabled, each dashboard user must enable the filter card to display data the filter refines.

8. Repeat for each field you want users to filter data by.

9. Click Apply Filters.

Edit Dashboard Filters

After you create a dashboard filter, you can:

• Rename filter cards.

• Enable or disable filter cards.

• Add or remove fields.

• Stack fields from other data sources.

• Change the default field values.

click to enlarge

To edit a dashboard filter:

1. Expand the Dashboard Filters pane on the desired dashboard, then click Edit.

2. Make the changes you want to each filter card.

3. Click Apply Filters.

Delete Dashboard Filters

1. Expand the Dashboard Filters pane on the desired dashboard, then click Edit.

2. Hover of the filter card you want to delete, then click .

3. Click Apply Filters.

Disable Dashboard Filters for a Chart

You can disable filtering for a specific chart if you create at least one dashboard filter on the chart's data source. If you disable filtering, the chart is exempted from all dashboard filters and highlighting. The default selection for all charts is Filter or highlight.

To disable dashboard filtering for a chart:

1. Hover over the chart on the dashboard to reveal four buttons in the upper right corner of the chart.

2. Click the second button (for Interactive Filters) and select Ignore from the dropdown.

Once you ignore filtering, the Interactive Filters button icon on the chart changes for all users. Users with the Viewer role can also see a tooltip if they click the Interactive Filters button, which says "The dashboard owner has not enabled filtering for this chart."

To reenable dashboard filtering for a chart:

1. Click the Interactive Filters button.

2. Select Filter from the dropdown.

Filter Dashboards

You can filter the dashboard data based on the filterable fields that an Author or Owner configured. Charts filters data based on default field values if the dashboard Author or Owner configured them. Dashboard Authors or Owners can configure filter cards to use related fields from multiple data sources. You can provide your own field values to customize the data the charts display.

To filter dashboard data based on filterable fields:

1. Expand the Dashboard Filters pane on the desired dashboard.

2. If a filter card is disabled, click the toggle to enable it.

3. Modify the values of the provided fields to update the dashboard's charts based on the filter values you provided.

   The filter card options are based on the data type of the field. To learn about filtering options for each field data type, see Create Filters for Your Data.

   Note

   If the filter card field is a String or ObjectId, Charts only samples field values from the first data source that was added to the filter.

   The dashboard filter shows 20 sample values. If you want to add your own value, click + Add Value and enter the value.

   Updating the filter value refines chart data based on all data sources linked to the filter card.

The charts refresh immediately after you modify a field value.

Revert Dashboard Filters to Default Values

To revert a filter card to its default values, click .