Filters in Power BI

In Power BI, filter function is used more to read the data or report based on multiple criteria.There are many filters in power Bi and the most commonly used filter in this tool is as follows, Visual Level filters, page-level filters, report level filters, Drill through filters, applying a filter to visual level, or applying a filter to page level.

For example, if you have monthly sales amount on category-wise and if you want to read the report only for specific categories across months you can filter only those categories using filters and dashboard, and visuals will show only selected category data in visuals.

Dashboards are good and visuals can convey the message more efficiently, but if the dashboard can interact with the user’s queries then that kind of dashboard can make the report dynamic. Power BI one such a software where we can make the dashboard interactive with the users.

If you have worked with excel worksheet then you don’t need any special introduction about filters but in Power BI, filters are more advanced, sophisticated and have many new features in it.

Similarly, if you don’t want to see some items in the dashboard we can exclude those as well from the view.

Types of Power BI Filters

This is where Power BI is more powerful than the excel filters because in Power BI we have several types of filters which are as follows –

Visual-Level Filters
Page-Level Filters
Report-Level Filters
Drill through Filters

More importantly, if you are following an old version of Power BI recently Microsoft has launched a new update for filters and it looks like this.

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Source: https://powerbi.microsoft.com

How to Add Filters in Power BI? (Top 3 Types)

You can download the workbook used in this example to practice along with us from the below link.

You can download this Power BI Filters Excel Template here – Power BI Filters Excel Template

Example #1 – Visual Level Filter

This is the filter that works on an individual filter only. As per the filter, you apply based on that selected visual can show only that much amount in the visual. For example, look at the below image of two visuals.

These two visuals are the same but to understand how “visual level filter” works.

On the right-hand side, you can see the “Filters” option.

Since there is no visual selected we cannot see any data field in the filter. Now select the second table to see the data fields.

As you can see above we can see data fields of the selected visual. We have three fields here i.e. “Amount”, “Card Type”, and “Date – Month”.

Click on the drop-down list of “Date – Month” and choose only “Jan”, “Feb” and “Mar”.

Now, look at both the visuals.

Only Table-2 data has been filtered for selected months and Table-1 visual data remains the same. So when the filter can impact specific visual effects or data then that is called “Visual Level Filter”.

Example #2 – Page-Level Filter

This filter works on all the visuals which are there in the field. For example, look at the below visuals.

These are the visuals we have created on the page named “Report Page”. By using Page Level Filters we can make the impact of the filter across all the visuals in the Power BI data.

As usual on the right-hand side, we have “Filters Pane”.

Note: Since no visual has been selected we cannot see any data fields.

Now we need to decide on which data field we need to apply the filter for and based on that we need to drag and drop the respective field to the “Filters on this page” field.

Now I want to filter the page level visuals based on “Gender-wise”, so I will drag and drop the field to “Filter on this page” field.

Now from this filter “Gender” choose only “Male”.

Now, look at the impact it has on visuals.

Now all the visuals are showing only “Male” gender-related data points.

One more thing you can do with this filter is we have an option called “Require single selection” checkbox, with this we can choose only one item at a time.

Example #3 – Report Level Filter Function

This filter impacts all the pages of the report we are working on at the moment.

For example, if you have 3 pages and if you choose the option of applying a filter based on “Report Level” it will impact all the pages’ visuals.

For this, you need to drag and drop the required field to the “Filters on all pages”.

I have selected the “Card Type” data field and if I choose any filter it will affect all the reports in the file.

Note: Power BI Filters file can also be downloaded from the link below and the final output can be viewed.

You can download this Power BI Filters Template here – Power BI Filters Template

Things to Remember here

Power BI filters are more advanced than excel worksheet filters.
We mainly work with three kinds of filter i.e. Visual Level, Page Level, and Report Level Filter.
You need to understand what kind of impact each filter would do.

Power BI Filters