Available On: Business Plus

Dashboard filters allow a viewer to narrow a dashboard’s results to only the data the viewer is interested in. Dashboard filters can apply to all tiles on a dashboard, or to only one dashboard tile.

When viewing a dashboard, a user can temporarily update dashboard filter values, which doesn’t affect any other users.

NOTE: This differs from filters that are part of a query underlying a dashboard tile; viewers can’t change these filters unless they have permission to edit the tile or dashboard.

To make permanent changes to filters that all users will see, or to add or delete filters, you must have the Manage Access, Edit access level for the dashboard and be in edit mode.

NOTE: Dashboard filters override filters applied to a tile’s Explore when both types of filters are filtering on the same field.

To get started, make sure the dashboard is in edit mode and that you have at least one query tile or Look-linked tile. Click Filters in the top toolbar, and then click Add Filter.

An Add Filter window appears pre-populated with fields from any Explores used in the dashboard. You can use the search bar to find the field you want to filter by, or you can select it from the drop-down menu:

NOTE: Dashboard filters use fields only from Explores that are used in that dashboard’s tiles. While you can still create the filter, you cannot apply multiple filters that use the same field to the same dashboard tile.

After you select the field you want to filter by, a filter configuration window appears that allows you to customize your filter settings:

The Tiles To Update tab allows you to determine which tiles listen to the filter. Looker begins by automatically applying the filter to any tiles created from the same Explore as the filter and sets the value of Field to Filter to the same field as the field chosen for the filter:

An advanced filter can be applied to all types of data and provides some additional flexibility in the filter conditions you can set up. To create an advanced filter, make sure you have selected Advanced in the Control field of the filter configuration window.

The Configure Default Value field populates with appropriate filter condition options for the type of data you’re filtering. For example, the filter below is filtering on product category, which is a string data type, so the filter condition options include is, contains, starts with, and so on.

Filters on other types of data, such as number or date types, will display different condition options.

Once you’ve selected your filter condition option, you can select a value from the drop-down to the right, which is populated with values from your database. Or, you can type a value to receive a suggestion.

You can also enter a value yourself and click Enter to create a value.

You can click the + next to your filter to add new conditions to the filter, which will be added as either OR conditions or AND conditions, depending on the types of conditions and values. To remove a condition, click the X next to that condition.

While there are several filter controls that allow filtering on dates, you can also use advanced filters with dates. Among other things, using advanced filters allows users to select “complete” ranges that do not include the current time period, by selecting complete days, complete weeks, and so on, in the condition options. This is unlike the timeframe filter control, which includes the current time period.

Advanced filters also allow users to select time values, such as hours, minutes, seconds, and so on.

Once filters are placed on a dashboard, you can move or reposition them by:

This drag and drop method can be used to reposition inline and popover filters, reconfigure which filters are placed behind a More button, and reposition filters within the More button drop-down.

If no filters are currently behind the More button, an empty More button temporarily appears while you are dragging a filter. You can move the filter over the More button to move it into the More button. If you do not place the filter in the More button, it disappears once you release your click.

If cross-filtering is enabled on a dashboard, you cannot reposition cross-filters using drag and drop, and entering edit mode clears any cross-filters currently on the dashboard.

In edit mode, a three-dot Filter Menu icon appears next to every filter.

To edit a filter, click the three-dot Filter Menu icon. This opens the filter menu, which displays options to edit or delete a filter:

Select the Edit menu option to open a filter configuration window, similar to the one used to add a filter, populated with the existing configuration for the filter. From there, you can update the filter-by field, the filter’s settings, or the tiles to update. Select Update or Cancel in the filter configuration window to save or cancel your changes.

After you edit filters, click the dashboard’s Update button to apply the new filter settings to the tiles.

Click Save in the blue toolbar to save your changes and exit edit mode.

In edit mode, a three-dot Filter Menu icon appears next to every filter.

To delete a filter:

Alternatively, you can select the Edit menu option, which opens the filter configuration window. Click the Delete button within the filter configuration window to delete your filter.

NOTE: Deleting a filter cannot be undone.