How to add and configure filters in the Dashboard Builder

In this guide, you’ll learn how to add and manage filters in your dashboard, including how to use interactive filters, chart filters, and the full list of filter operators available in the Manage Filters window.

 

There are two main types of filters that can be in your dashboard:

• Interactive filters: filters that anyone viewing the dashboard can use to explore data interactively.

• Static filters: filters that dashboard designers can add and lock, which can’t be changed by viewers. These can apply to a single chart or to the entire dashboard.

Adding interactive filters

Let’s start with interactive filters. Typically, you’ll want to add things like date filters, type filters, or location filters.

 

To add a date filter:

1. Click Add item and drag the Date filter to the top of your design space.

2. Drag this to the top of your dashboard so it’s easy for people to find and use.

3. Once you’ve added your date filter, the next step is to connect it to your data.

To connect your filter to a field:

1. Go to the Events dataset and search for “Date.”

2. Find events_datetime and drag the value from “Day” into the Datetime slot in the filter.

It’s important to label your filter so users know what it does.

• Open Settings on the right.

• Turn on the Title toggle.

• Rename it to Event Date.

You may want to have two date filters, one for when the event was reported and one for when the event actually took place.

 

If you also want to include a Reported Date filter:

1. Click the Clone button to duplicate the existing filter.

2. Rename it to Reported Date.

3. In the dataset, search for “Created.”

4. Drag the value from “Day” into the Datetime slot in the filter.

Now you have two filters, one showing when the event was reported and one showing when it actually happened.

 

Adding other types of filters

Other common filters you might want to add include type, location, and severity filters.

 

To add these:

1. Click Add item again, but this time choose Dropdown filter instead of a date filter.

2. Drag and drop it where you want it to appear.

3. In the Data slot on the right, search for Type and drag dropdown_events_type into the data slot.

4. Open Settings, enable the Title toggle, and rename it appropriately, for example “Event Type.”

You can continue to add more filters in the same way, for example one for location and one for severity.

 

Optimising your filters

There are a few things you can do to make filters easier and quicker for people to use, especially if your team uses them frequently.

 

Setting default time periods

For date filters, you can choose what time periods appear by default when someone clicks on them. You can even make the dashboard automatically load with a time period already applied.

 

This is helpful if you always check data for a certain range, such as the last seven days or the last quarter.

 

To set this up:

1. Click the Settings icon for the date filter.

2. Choose the time period you want to apply automatically, such as “This month.”

3. On the right, select Initialise with filter.

4. Scroll down to adjust or remove any unused time periods, such as removing “60 days” if you don’t need it.

5. Add new ones like “90 days” or “Previous year.”

These options appear in the dropdown list for that filter so users can select them easily each time they use the dashboard.

 

Additional date filter settings

If you scroll further down in the settings, you can:

• Disable unavailable days.

• Change the first day of the week.

• Add an info tooltip to explain what the filter does.

• Change the theme of the filter to match your dashboard’s style.

Editing dropdown filter settings

You can also change settings for dropdown filters. For example, you can:

• Enable or disable search inside the filter.

• Make it multi-select, allowing users to select multiple values such as multiple severities instead of just one.

• Use Initialise with filter, as with date filters, to pre-apply a selection when the dashboard loads.

• Adjust the theme and other display options.

Managing how filters interact

You can control how filters interact with each other. When an element is green, the filter applies to it. When it’s red, it doesn’t.

 

For example, if you have two filters, one for region and one for city, you can make it so that when someone selects a region, the city filter only shows cities within that region.

 

This makes it much easier to drill down into the data. However, you wouldn’t want, for instance, your date filters to interact with each other.

 

Filtering directly through charts

You can also filter dynamically by clicking directly on chart elements.

 

For example, if you click on Safety Concern in a bar chart, the rest of the dashboard will automatically filter to show only events of that type.

 

This makes it quick and intuitive to explore data patterns without having to add extra filters.

 

Adding chart-level filters

Finally, let’s look at chart-level filters. These filters apply only to individual charts and can’t be edited by anyone who doesn’t have a Dashboard Analytics licence.

 

To add a chart-level filter:

1. Hover over the chart.

2. Click the Data button.

3. Select Add filter.

This opens the Manage filters window, where you can set up filters that only apply to that chart.

 

In this window:

• Select the column you want to filter by.

• Choose a filter operator.

• Enter or select the value you want to filter by.

You can add multiple filters and combine them using AND or OR conditions, or group them for more complex logic.

 

Understanding filter operators

When you add filters in the Manage Filters window, you’ll need to choose an operator that defines how the filter behaves. The available operators depend on the type of field you’re filtering.

 

For number fields

• equals / not equals – match or exclude exact values

• is in / is not in – include or exclude lists of numbers

• less than / less than or equal / greater than / greater than or equal – compare numerical values

• is missing / is not missing – include or exclude blank fields

For text fields

• equals / not equals – for exact matches

• is in / is not in – for matching against lists of text values

• contains / does not contain – for partial matches within text

• starts with / does not start with – for matching text that begins with certain words or characters

• ends with / does not end with – for matching text that ends with certain words or characters

• is missing / is not missing – for empty or non-empty text fields

For date fields

• less than / less than or equal / greater than / greater than or equal – to filter by date ranges

• last (x) periods / last available periods / last completed period – to show data from recent weeks, months, or quarters

• next (x) periods / next full period – to show upcoming data such as future actions or due dates

• week to date / month to date / quarter to date / year to date – to show data from the start of the current period up to today

• is missing / is not missing – for empty or completed date fields

Summary

You’ve now learned how to:

• Add interactive filters such as date, type, and location filters.

• Customise their settings for easier use.

• Control how filters interact with each other.

• Filter data directly through chart elements.

• Add chart-level filters to individual charts.

In the next guide, we’ll look at how to customise your dashboard design and styling.