HOW TO USE TABLEAU FILTERS

Tableau is used for data analysis and data visualization. Tableau has one tool which is called “Filter”. Filter is used for narrowing down the data. Filtering the data is a very important part of data analysis. Filters can eliminate irrelevant data and minimize the data.

Following are the types of filters:

•         EXTRACT FILTER

•      DATA SOURCE FILTER

•      CONTEXT FILTER

•      DIMENSION FILTER

•      MEASURE FILTER

•     TABLE CALCULATION FILTER

1.Extract Filter:

When we are connecting data source to tableau, we can see two options Live and Extract at top of right corner.

By default, Tableau will take 'Live connection' for data source. Live connection means real time updates so if there is any updates in live connection it will reflect in tableau.

'Extract' means snapshots of previous data.

We can see now, how to create Extract filter using following steps:

1.     Connect the data source to Tableau.

2.     After conning data source to Tableau, we see two options on the right corner Live and Extract.

3.     Click on the Extract button.

4.     After clicking extract button we can two options Edit and Refresh near the extract button.

5.     Click on “Edit” option.

6.     It will open “Extract Data” window.

7.     In Extract Data window click on “Add” option.

8.     We can choose any data field from the data source and add in to the extract filter.

9.     E.g. We selected “Segment” from data source as Extract Filter.

10.  Select Segment from the list.

11.  Click on “OK” button.

12.  Then the Filter window will open.

13.  Then Select Consumer from the list.

14. Click on the “Extract”

15. We can see order sample superstore file name and save as type “data extract (. hyper)”

16. Save the file.

After saving the file, open a new tableau window and connect the “data Extract    (.hyper) file” to tableau. In the worksheet drag and drop Segment into the rows then you can see “Consumer” only.

2. Data Source Filter:

Data source filter is used to restrict the data before going to the worksheet. Users can restrict data while doing analysis on worksheets or publishing workbooks. If we have a large amount of data source, then using data source filter we can take only relevant data while working on Tableau.

Here are some steps to use data source filter.

1.     Connect data source to Tableau.

2.     After connecting the data source to Tableau on the right corner we can have one option i.e. “Filter”.

3.     Once we click on “Add” button we see “Edit Data Source Filter”

4.     Click on “Add” button in “Edit data source filters” and select any data field in the data source. i.e. Segment

5.     Click on “Segment” and press “OK” button.

6.     Select “Consumer” from Segment and click on “OK.”

7.     Click on the worksheet and drag Segment into rows, then we can see only Consumer option from segment.

In worksheet we can see only “Consumer” from “Segment” because we applied data source filter.

3.Contex Filter

If there is a large data source and lots of filters are applied, then the query becomes slow. On this if we applied context filter on this worksheet then query become faster and improve performance also. Context filters are independent filters. First context filter is applied on the worksheet and after that all other filters are applied. Users mostly cannot change context filters, if context filets changes, then it takes time to reload the data.

Here we can see some steps to create context filter:

1.     Connect the data source to the Tableau.

2.     We can create a view with any field of any data source.

3.     Let’s take 'Customer name' and 'Sales.'

4.     Put Customer name into rows and sorted with sales into the column.  

 5.     Put Customer name into the filter.

6.     While putting customer name into filter, we can see “Filter” window.

7.     In that filter window click on “Top” tab, then create a filter that is Top 5 by Sum of Sales.

8.     Then click on “Apply” and “Ok.”

9.     Now drag one more filed in to filter i.e. Segment.

10. In Segment select “Consumer “only.

11. After selecting Consumer click on “Apply” and “OK”.

12. Now we can see only two Customer Names instead of five customer names.

13. Here all filters are assessed separately.  So that we can see only two customer names instead of five.

14. Now to see the top five Consumer Segment, we want to select Segment filter as context filter.

15. After applying Consumer Segment as Context filter, we can see Top 5 Customers name for Consumer segment.

So, as we can see, here Context filter is applied first which Consumer in Segment and then customer name filter applied on the worksheet.

4. Dimension Filter:

As name suggests we can use only dimension from data pane for the dimension filter.

Dimension mostly contains discrete values.

Followings are steps to create dimension filter:

1.     Select dimension from data pane and drag in to the filter. E.g. Segment

2.     Segment drag in to the filter. Then the filter window appears.

3.     In the dimension filter we can see four tabs.

• General
  

• Wildcard

• Condition

•  Top

1.General: This tab shows the value which we want to include or exclude value.

2. Wildcard: In this tab we can use any specific word, special character or any pattern in the match value with the any one of the four options like starts with, end with, contains and exactly matches.

Condition: This tab is used when we want to use specific conditions for filtering.

i.e. total Sales are greater than or equal to 50.

We can create custom formulas also using "By formula."

Top: In this tab we can see Top/Bottom 10 values or Top/Bottom 5 values. In this tab instead of giving specific ranges like sale >= 25 or profit < 10 we take limit values. (Top/bottom)

MEASURE FILTER:

Measure filters are applied on the measure from data pane. Measures mostly contain continuous value. These filters mostly contain ranges. If we want, we can add values to the ranges.

Here we can see how to create measure filters:

1.     Drag measure e.g. Sales into the filter.

2.     After dragging Sales into the filter, “Filter Field (Sales)” window will appear.

3.     Select all values, aggregation field, standard deviation, or attributes (Any of one) and click on “Next”.

4.     After clicking on “Next” we can see four tabs:

• “Range of value”

• “At Least”

•  “At Most” and

•  “Special” Range of value: There are two ranges: Minimum Range and maximum range. In this we can put minimum value and maximum value. After putting values, we will get specific range.
  

At Least: In this filter we can choose only one value i.e. minimum Value. We cannot put maximum value in this filter.

At Most: In this filter we can choose only one value i.e. Maximum Value. We cannot put minimum value in this filter.

Special Value: This filter contains “Null values”, “non-null values” and “All values”

Table Calculation Filter:

It is only filter which is created by table calculations. If we have a field which is having table calculation, and we want to put that field into the filters then table calculation filter will appear. Table calculation filters appears last in the “Orders of operations”. If table calculation is discrete(Dimension), then while putting table calculation in the filter it shows dimension filter. If table calculation is continuous(Measure), then while putting table calculation in the filter it shows measure filter.

Conclusion:

Tableau filter is important for data analysis and visualization. Tableau filters are useful for cleaning data, removing unnecessary data, narrowing down the data and setting specific ranges.