Tableau Filters- Productive Guide on Tableau’s Efficient use of the Filters.
Discover how to use Tableau filters effectively for streamlined data analysis. Learn key filter types and optimization techniques in this comprehensive guide.
Tableau Filters are very useful to filter the data in such a way that we can only use the specific data to analyse rather than whole data.
There are more than 10 tableau filters which can be used to filter the whole data.
Data Source Filters
It limits the data being loaded into tableau from the source. It will restrict access to sensitive data like email id or phone number and improve the performance of visualization.
Example: — If we are using a global sales data where we only want to analyse North America data or APAC data, we can filter it from source as “region” field to include only North America or APAC data.
How to apply:
– Go to the Data menu –> Right-click on the data source –> Select Edit Data Source.
– Click the Add button under “Filters” and select the field you want to filter on.
Extract Filters
It is almost similar to the data source filters but specific to extracts.
It is useful when you want to reduce the size of the extract for performance reasons or to work with sample data.
Example: — If you want to see only last 2 years data then we can apply an extract filter on the “order date” field to include only records as desired years.
How to apply:
– After connecting to a data source, click the Extract radio button.
– In the pop-up, click Add under “Extract Filters” and select the fields to limit the data extracted.
Context Filters
When we have multiple filters and want certain filters to be applied first. Context filters are used to improve performance by reducing the amount of data passed to other filters. It helps in priority for filters and make dependent filters run more efficiently.
Example:- Let’s say we have filters for “Country” and “State.” Adding “Country” as a context filter ensures that the “State” filter only shows relevant States from the selected country, improving dashboard performance.
How to apply:
– Right-click a filter in the Filters shelf and select Add to Context.
– The filter turns gray, indicating it’s now a context filter.
Dimension Filters
Dimension is generally defined as text like city, state, product which can be segmented by some measures. Dimension will help to understand the by which category we are seeing value like category, subcategory etc.
Examples: To exclude the “Technology” product category from your view, drag “Category” to the Filters shelf, uncheck “Technology,” and apply the filter.
How to apply:
– Drag a dimension (like “Category”) to the Filters shelf.
– Choose the items you want to include/exclude from the data.
Measure Filters
Measure is defined as number like sales, Profit which can be used to measure the performance of data. Filter data based on numeric values or range of values.
Examples: Showing customers whose sales revenue is greater than $30000. If you only want to see sales greater than $30,000, drag “Sales” to the Filters shelf, choose “At least,” and set the value to 30,000.
How to apply:
– Drag a measure (like “Revenue”) to the Filters shelf.
– Choose how you want to filter the data (e.g., all values, range of values, or top/bottom N).
Date Filters
Date filters are defined as based on specific period like week, month, quarter and Year. There are 3 types of date filters in tableau
- Relative date filters: generally used to compare previous date to current date like last week to this week performance. It helps to filter last week, month, quarter or year data.
- Range of dates: It is defined as a specific start date to end date, if any user wants to see any customized date range to see the performance of campaign.
- Individual dates: it is defined as filter specific date to check performance of campaign or how much revenue has earned that day.
Examples: — To show sales data for the last quarter, drag “Order Date” to the Filters shelf, select Relative Date, and choose Last 3 months.
How to apply:
– Drag a date field (like “Order Date”) to the Filters shelf.
– Choose from options such as Relative Dates (e.g., last week), Range of Dates, or Individual Dates.
Table calculations Filters
Table calculations is a very powerful tool in tableau where we can do lot of calculations based on requirements however, we can be able to filter data based on table calculations like rank or percentage difference.
Example: To display only the top 10 products by sales, create a Rank table calculation, drag it to the Filters shelf, and filter on ranks 1 to 10.
How to apply:
– First, create a table calculation (e.g., rank or moving average).
– Drag the table calculation to the Filters shelf, and set your conditions.
Top or Bottom N Filters
It is defined as to check either top or bottom N (5,10 or 15) based on measures. It is a very useful filter to understand the top performance of dimensions.
Examples: Filtering out top 10 products based on revenue or bottom 5 products based on profit. Display only the top or bottom N records based on a measure (e.g., top 5 customers by profit).
How to apply:
– Drag a dimension (like “Customer Name”) to the Filters shelf.
– Click the Top tab in the filter dialog and set it to display the Top N (e.g., Top 5 customers by profit).
Wildcard Filters
it is defined as filter based on a pattern or wildcard string and is applied on string-based dimensions.
Example: If you want to filter customer names that start with “A,” drag “Customer Name” to the Filters shelf, select the Wildcard tab, and enter “A”.
How to apply:
– Drag a dimension (like “Customer Name”) to the Filters shelf.
– Click the Wildcard tab and enter a pattern or keyword (e.g., starts with, contains).
Hierarchical Filters
Hierarchical Filters is defined as the correlation between 2 or 3 fields like city, state and country or category or subcategories.it allows user to drill down from higher level of fields to more granular level.
Example: If you filter on “Furniture” under “Category,” the “Subcategory” filter will only show options like “Chairs” or “Tables,” which belong to the “Furniture” category.
How to apply:
– Drag both “Category” and “Subcategory” to the Filters shelf.
– As you filter the higher level (Category), the lower-level (Subcategory) filter will dynamically update.
Cascading Filters (Dependent Filters)
It is defined as that depend on the selection of another filter. When selecting a value in one filter dynamically updates the options in another.
Example: Select “United States” in the “Country” filter, and the “State” filter will show only states within the USA.
How to apply:
– Add multiple filters (like “Country” and “State”) to your view.
– The filters automatically cascade: selecting “USA” in the “Country” filter will show only US states in the “State” filter.
In a Nutshell
Tableau filters are like the secret sauce that turns raw data into meaningful insights. Each filter has its own unique role, helping you slice and dice your data just the way you need. Whether you’re zooming in with a Dimension Filter or capturing trends with a Date Filter, these tools make data storytelling so much smoother. So, dive into these filters, experiment, and watch your data come to life with clarity and precision.
