How to Filter in Tableau

Drilling down into the specifics of your data is what transforms a pile of numbers into powerful business insights. In Tableau, filters are the tools you'll use to do exactly that, allowing you to slice, dice, and focus your analysis. This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough of the different types of Tableau filters and how to use them to find the answers you need.

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Why Are Filters So Important in Tableau?

Filters are fundamental to data analysis. Instead of looking at your entire dataset at once, which can be overwhelming and noisy, filters let you isolate specific segments. Think of them as a magnifying glass for your data.

• Focus Your Analysis: Zero in on a particular time period, product category, sales region, or customer demographic to uncover trends that would otherwise be hidden.
• Improve Performance: By filtering out unnecessary data, you reduce the amount of information Tableau has to process, leading to faster-loading visualizations and dashboards.
• Create Interactive Dashboards: When you publish a dashboard, filters empower your audience to explore the data themselves, answering their own questions by interacting directly with the charts.

Understanding the Filter Shelf

Before creating filters, you need to know where they live. In a Tableau worksheet, you'll see a dedicated area called the Filters Shelf, located right above the Marks card. Any field you want to use as a filter - whether it's a date, a product name, or a sales figure - must be dragged and dropped onto this shelf.

A Rundown of Tableau's Filter Types

Tableau processes different types of filters in a specific sequence, known as the Order of Operations. Understanding this hierarchy helps you predict how filters will interact and troubleshoot any unexpected results. We'll go through them in the approximate order Tableau applies them.

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1. Extract Filters

An Extract Filter is used when you create a Tableau Data Extract (.hyper file). This means you're filtering the data before it's even brought into your Tableau workbook. It’s a great way to reduce the overall size of your dataset and significantly improve dashboard performance, especially when dealing with massive amounts of data.

When to use an Extract Filter:

Imagine your company has ten years of sales data, but you know your analysis for the current project only requires the last two years. Creating an extract filter to include only that two-year period makes your workbook lighter and faster right from the start.

How to set up an Extract Filter:

1. In the Data Source tab, select the Extract connection option.
2. Click the Edit link that appears next to it.
3. In the "Extract Data" dialog box, click Add... under the Filters section.
4. Choose the field you want to filter by (e.g., 'Order Date') and define your criteria.
5. Click OK. Now, when Tableau creates the extract, it will only include the data matching your filter.

2. Data Source Filters

Similar to Extract Filters, Data Source Filters restrict what data enters your workbook from the source itself. The key difference is that this works for both live connections and extracts. A Data Source Filter applies globally to every worksheet and dashboard within your workbook that uses that data source.

When to use a Data Source Filter:

If you have a business unit that should only ever see data for the "West" region, you can apply a Data Source Filter on the 'Region' field. This acts as a security measure and ensures they can’t accidentally view data from other regions.

How to set up a Data Source Filter:

1. Go to the Data Source tab in the top right corner of the window.
2. Click the Add button.
3. Click Add... again to bring up the "Add Filter" dialog box.
4. Select the field you want to filter and define your criteria (e.g., select only "West" from the 'Region' list).
5. Click OK. This filter is now active across your entire workbook.

3. Context Filters

Context Filters are a special kind of filter that creates a temporary, smaller dataset from your main dataset. All your other regular filters (which we'll cover next) will then apply only to the data that "passes through" the Context Filter. This is a very powerful concept for controlling the order of operations.

To turn a regular dimension filter into a context filter, right-click it on the Filters shelf and select Add to Context. The filter's pill will turn grey, indicating it’s now a context filter.

When to use a Context Filter:

This is most common when using a "Top N" filter. Let's say you want to see the Top 10 best-selling products in the 'Technology' category.

Without a context filter, Tableau would first find the top 10 products across ALL categories and then show you which, if any, of those are in 'Technology'.

With a context filter, you would first set 'Category' to 'Technology' and Add to Context. Tableau then creates a temporary table with only Technology products. Then, it applies your 'Top 10 Products' filter to that temporary table, giving you the correct result.

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4. Dimension Filters

These are the filters you'll likely use most often. A dimension is categorical data - think text or dates, like Product Name, Region, or Customer ID. Dragging a dimension to the Filters shelf opens a dialog box with several tabs for defining your filter.

• General: Lets you manually select values from a list (e.g., check the boxes for 'Central' and 'East' regions) or use a custom value list.
• Wildcard: Allows you to filter based on text patterns. For example, you could filter for all customer names that "Contain" the word "Corp" or "Start with" the letter A.
• Condition: Lets you set a filter based on a measure. For example, show only the 'Product Categories' where the SUM(Sales) is greater than $1,000,000.
• Top: This is a powerful tab that lets you find the top or bottom N values based on a measure. For example, find the Top 10 Customers by SUM(Sales).

Dimension filters are incredibly flexible and are the backbone of most detailed analyses in Tableau.

5. Measure Filters

While a dimension filter focuses on categories, a measure filter focuses on numerical values. Measures are things you can count or do math on, like Sales, Profit, or Quantity.

When you drag a measure to the Filters shelf, Tableau asks how you want to aggregate it (e.g., SUM, AVG, MEDIAN). After you choose, you can specify the filter criteria.

When to use a Measure Filter:

Suppose you want to see all sales transactions that were over $5,000 each. You'd drag the 'Sales' measure to the filter shelf, keep the aggregation as an individual value ("All values"), and then set the range to be a minimum of 5,000. Alternatively, if you wanted to see which 'Product Sub-Categories' had total sales of less than $100,000, you'd drag 'Sales' to the filters shelf, select 'SUM', and then set the range to have a maximum of 100,000.

How to set up a Measure Filter:

1. Drag your measure field (e.g., 'Sales') onto the Filters Shelf.
2. The "Filter Field" dialog opens. Choose how you want to aggregate the measure (e.g., SUM). Click Next.
3. Specify the range of values you want to include. You have several options:
4. Click OK.

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6. Date Filters

Date filters are a specific type of dimensional filter but are so commonly used they deserve their own section. When you drag a date field to the Filters shelf, Tableau offers several powerful options:

• Relative date: Perfect for creating dynamic dashboards. You can set it to "Last 7 days," "Previous month," "Year to date," etc. This filter automatically updates every time the workbook is opened.
• Range of dates: Select a specific start and end date to analyze a fixed period.
• Discrete dates: Choose specific years, quarters, months, or even exact days from a list.

Making Filters Interactive on Dashboards

Any filter you create on a worksheet can be made available to your end-users on a dashboard. This transforms your static view into an interactive report.

How to show a filter:

1. Once a filter is on your Filters shelf, right-click the filter's pill.
2. Select Show Filter.
3. The filter control will appear in your worksheet view. When you add this sheet to a dashboard, the filter control comes with it.
4. In the dashboard, you can click the dropdown arrow on the filter card to customize its appearance (e.g., Single Value List, Multiple Values (dropdown), Slider). You can also make a single filter apply to multiple worksheets on the same dashboard for a coordinated experience.

Quick Refresher: The Order of Operations

To summarize, Tableau applies filters in this fixed order. Remembering this will save you a lot of time!

1. Extract Filters (affects the data pulled into the extract file)
2. Data Source Filters (affects what data enters the workbook)
3. Context Filters (creates a temporary table for other filters to work from)
4. Dimension Filters (e.g., Category, Region)
5. Measure Filters (e.g., SUM(Sales), AVG(Profit))
6. Table Calculation Filters (a more advanced type that filters the final view without removing underlying data for calculations)

Final Thoughts

Filtering is the practice of asking your data a more specific question, and mastering it is a cornerstone of becoming proficient in Tableau. By understanding the different types of filters - from broader Data Source filters to granular Measure filters and the crucial Context filter - you can precisely control your analysis and build dynamic, insightful dashboards.

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