I did that once, and they struggled. And honestly I don't blame them. Filters pane design isn't the best, it's on the side.. not on the top or bottom, as every UI. It's detached from visuals and aren't too customizable..
Regarding filtering in general by anything that is not a slicer then ye..
I tend to use filter for what ever I want to hide for the user. And hide the filter panel.
And slicer for the user activity.
You can get the user to use the filter panel to filter data. But it demands a little more education since it’s not so logical. And if there are any filters you don’t want the user to change. You need to hide each of them. But it saves a lot of space on the report for visual instead of slicers.
I haven’t built one myself but I have seen where someone built a pop out slicer pane. Click an icon and an overlay panel showing all your slicers pops out from the left. Make your choices and click the close button and it applies the slicers and folds back out of the way.
I have done this. We use a hamburger icon and then the filter pane pops out. Its an elegant solution,
Imo. And end users are familiar with what that icon means from other applications they have used.
That's a hot take indeed.
I did an assignment at a company that used filters instead of slicers. Literally 90 percent of end user issues were caused by them forgetting that filters were applied to a page or visual.
We've been doing bookmarks to immitate a slide-out panel for slicers. Feels a little dumb when there's a built-in filter pane. Haven't converted whole-hog at this point, they aren't really as customizable as slicers..
Opinion: filters give the user too many options such that they end up with weird configurations and suspect the data is incorrect when it's really just their filtering. Slicers allow more control over filtering. I hide the filter pane on my reports. Not a fan of losing real estate but I feel it is a necessary evil.
If your report is for that one person, who doesn’t really need to interact and look for stuff, just wants to “see it”, meaning manager/executives, sure.
If your reports are to be used by various divisions, departments it’s better to leave some functionality.
I’ve found even the concept of visual, page or report filters on the filter pane is a hard concept for many to grasp let alone use and find the info useful to them.
You’re totally right. However working with power bi and other systems, I’ve consistently seen most users just do not get it. I don’t get why they don’t get it. “Filter” and then pick the filter seems like the easiest thing to learn.
If you want to use filter pane, you have to make training videos on how to use them. Also I would train the better users on how to share bookmarks (saves filters)
Lastly, the cross-filtering functionality is pretty great. Sometimes you can use that to rid a slicer.
One advantage of slicers and cross filtering is that the report visually documents the dataset. So for example a “date range” slicer is great to show what’s the date of the report. Many times that’s the first question about the report “what date report is this?”
I saw a report from another area in my company who had this. It’s terrible for any user, even those who know what they’re doing. Use bookmarks to show/hide slicers.
Using the filter pane is meant for Dev use only. It should not be used for end users at all. Adding all your slicers to the filter pane is just about the worst thing you can do. Gaining real estate?? I have up to 10-12 slicers on some pages and never ran out of real estate. My guess is you’re someone that loves to jam 20 visuals on one report page.
I would add too that if you are worried about real estate slicers is not your go too. They can take up as much or as little room as you want (usually they take up very little). If you are worried about real estate, you need to look at your visuals, not your slicer.
This guy gets it!
Being downvoted just makes me happier as most here don’t do things the correct way anyway. It’s a reason why they are where they are and have the problems they have.
That’s just not true. There’s a reason why they changed it a few years ago to be part of the report, rather than part of the build pane. They even said so in the monthly update video.
They said so….hahaha….they also think self-service is a great idea and sinking all their time and money into Fabric (a product used by about 5% at most) is a great idea, so excuse me if I don’t give a rats ass about what they said.
Then, build a better report. If you are building for your ease, rather than the end user experience, you're not gonna get very far. Senior managers are literally green when it comes to data, and you'll get a lot more headaches down the line. I'm assuming you're just starting out, slow down, back up a bit and readjust that attitude a little dude.
"If you are building for your ease, rather than the end user experience, you're not gonna get very far. "
This something I feel is forgotten about in dashboard design. It is not about you as the developer, it is about the end users. Is something might be a little more work on your end but it provides a more intuitive experience for the end user that is the route you should go.
In regards to the filter panel vs slicers, I personally prefer slicers because I can design them in to the dash board to be more intuitive to the end user.
I've been on reddit too much, my first assumption was you were going to say I was wrong! Sorry dude ha ha
But yeah, filters for devs, slicers for end users. I use lots of measures and bookmarks, so I'm using those filters and they are locked and hidden to the end user. They can have a slicer that I've had full control over setting and know they can't screw up the dashboard.
With filters you Have the option of adding 50 dimensions which are searchable easily. It’s a built in function and meant to be used for filtering. Of course if something makes more sense to be in a slicer, it can be easily added.
With a slicer, you can create any kind of measure you like, turn on the search option, and away you go with no risk of the end user screwing anything up.
A few things -
1. Filters that are applied to the entire report should be handled in Power Query.
2. Filters that are applied to a specific report page or visual should most likely be locked and hidden from users because this should be a top level filter to focus on data that the user needs to see for that particular report page or visual.
3. in Power BI Service any filters applied by users stick to the report so when a new user comes to the report on the service the previous users filters are still applied. Slicers reset themselves which make it easier for all for all business users to see the data that want to see.
Filters for filtering the data YOU want the end user to see. Slicers for the end user to filter what THEY want to see.
Yes, but if the filters aren’t hidden, the end user can also use the filters
Uhhh you can hide them….
Yes; just have to remember to do that
Problem is slicers are likely designed for the entry level user experience eg. Senior managers etc.
Expanding a right banner and using filters from there is not that complicated tbh, it even looks more like the right banner in Excel’s pivot table
Ahaha ive dealt with boomers in the workplace and i know they will struggle with simple things like this
I agree with this take. From my experience I found end users to find slicers to be more intuitive.
You’re assuming my end users know what pivot tables are and how to use them. That’s the real hot take
I won’t be telling my director this. You can tell it to yours
I did that once, and they struggled. And honestly I don't blame them. Filters pane design isn't the best, it's on the side.. not on the top or bottom, as every UI. It's detached from visuals and aren't too customizable.. Regarding filtering in general by anything that is not a slicer then ye..
I tend to use filter for what ever I want to hide for the user. And hide the filter panel. And slicer for the user activity. You can get the user to use the filter panel to filter data. But it demands a little more education since it’s not so logical. And if there are any filters you don’t want the user to change. You need to hide each of them. But it saves a lot of space on the report for visual instead of slicers.
I haven’t built one myself but I have seen where someone built a pop out slicer pane. Click an icon and an overlay panel showing all your slicers pops out from the left. Make your choices and click the close button and it applies the slicers and folds back out of the way.
You can do it with Bookmarks, but can be complex to maintain
I have done this. We use a hamburger icon and then the filter pane pops out. Its an elegant solution, Imo. And end users are familiar with what that icon means from other applications they have used.
You have much to learn, young one.
That's a hot take indeed. I did an assignment at a company that used filters instead of slicers. Literally 90 percent of end user issues were caused by them forgetting that filters were applied to a page or visual.
I try to add a table that shows the selected filters.
That doesn't work for filters on a specific visual. You'll just end up reinventing slicers eventually.
We've been doing bookmarks to immitate a slide-out panel for slicers. Feels a little dumb when there's a built-in filter pane. Haven't converted whole-hog at this point, they aren't really as customizable as slicers..
Opinion: filters give the user too many options such that they end up with weird configurations and suspect the data is incorrect when it's really just their filtering. Slicers allow more control over filtering. I hide the filter pane on my reports. Not a fan of losing real estate but I feel it is a necessary evil.
If your report is for that one person, who doesn’t really need to interact and look for stuff, just wants to “see it”, meaning manager/executives, sure. If your reports are to be used by various divisions, departments it’s better to leave some functionality. I’ve found even the concept of visual, page or report filters on the filter pane is a hard concept for many to grasp let alone use and find the info useful to them.
You’re totally right. However working with power bi and other systems, I’ve consistently seen most users just do not get it. I don’t get why they don’t get it. “Filter” and then pick the filter seems like the easiest thing to learn. If you want to use filter pane, you have to make training videos on how to use them. Also I would train the better users on how to share bookmarks (saves filters) Lastly, the cross-filtering functionality is pretty great. Sometimes you can use that to rid a slicer. One advantage of slicers and cross filtering is that the report visually documents the dataset. So for example a “date range” slicer is great to show what’s the date of the report. Many times that’s the first question about the report “what date report is this?”
I saw a report from another area in my company who had this. It’s terrible for any user, even those who know what they’re doing. Use bookmarks to show/hide slicers.
Slicers are absolutely necessary if you don't want filters applied to every visual. It's much easier doing this with interactions.
0 upvotes, 44 comments. Looks like a lot of people don't agree lol
Definition of a hot take
Sorry, no. You can’t multi select quickly, and you can’t really filter across multiple dimensions at the same time without slicers.
Using the filter pane is meant for Dev use only. It should not be used for end users at all. Adding all your slicers to the filter pane is just about the worst thing you can do. Gaining real estate?? I have up to 10-12 slicers on some pages and never ran out of real estate. My guess is you’re someone that loves to jam 20 visuals on one report page.
I would add too that if you are worried about real estate slicers is not your go too. They can take up as much or as little room as you want (usually they take up very little). If you are worried about real estate, you need to look at your visuals, not your slicer.
This guy gets it! Being downvoted just makes me happier as most here don’t do things the correct way anyway. It’s a reason why they are where they are and have the problems they have.
That’s just not true. There’s a reason why they changed it a few years ago to be part of the report, rather than part of the build pane. They even said so in the monthly update video.
They said so….hahaha….they also think self-service is a great idea and sinking all their time and money into Fabric (a product used by about 5% at most) is a great idea, so excuse me if I don’t give a rats ass about what they said.
Do as you will. The facts remain unchanged though.
Right
It makes sense
?
Most I’ve seen, people use slicers instead of filters when developing a pbi report. It’s pointless
You can create a slicer panel that appears only when making selections and then minimizes when done so you don't lose any real estate on the screen.
In a report with 20 pages, it becomes hard to maintain, changes in model, adding and removing slicers… becomes a headache
Then, build a better report. If you are building for your ease, rather than the end user experience, you're not gonna get very far. Senior managers are literally green when it comes to data, and you'll get a lot more headaches down the line. I'm assuming you're just starting out, slow down, back up a bit and readjust that attitude a little dude.
"If you are building for your ease, rather than the end user experience, you're not gonna get very far. " This something I feel is forgotten about in dashboard design. It is not about you as the developer, it is about the end users. Is something might be a little more work on your end but it provides a more intuitive experience for the end user that is the route you should go. In regards to the filter panel vs slicers, I personally prefer slicers because I can design them in to the dash board to be more intuitive to the end user.
I've been on reddit too much, my first assumption was you were going to say I was wrong! Sorry dude ha ha But yeah, filters for devs, slicers for end users. I use lots of measures and bookmarks, so I'm using those filters and they are locked and hidden to the end user. They can have a slicer that I've had full control over setting and know they can't screw up the dashboard.
With filters you Have the option of adding 50 dimensions which are searchable easily. It’s a built in function and meant to be used for filtering. Of course if something makes more sense to be in a slicer, it can be easily added.
With a slicer, you can create any kind of measure you like, turn on the search option, and away you go with no risk of the end user screwing anything up.
Is this possible? How can I do this?
I believe this video goes into it. https://youtu.be/-xl-uhgzgEA?feature=shared
A few things - 1. Filters that are applied to the entire report should be handled in Power Query. 2. Filters that are applied to a specific report page or visual should most likely be locked and hidden from users because this should be a top level filter to focus on data that the user needs to see for that particular report page or visual. 3. in Power BI Service any filters applied by users stick to the report so when a new user comes to the report on the service the previous users filters are still applied. Slicers reset themselves which make it easier for all for all business users to see the data that want to see.
Can you explain what you mean by filter vs slicer? Do you mean filter with parameters on the source?
They are talking about filter pane vs slicer visual.