This article outlines some of the best practices you can use to help you get the most from dashboard filters. To learn more about filters and how to add them to your dashboard, see Adding interactive dashboard components.
This article contains the following sections:
- Use reports from fewer datasets
- Select time filters you need
- Link data filters
- Exclude filters from reports
- Use time filters
- Save default filter values via bookmarks
- Use filters across multiple tabs
Use reports from fewer datasets
To simplify the dashboard filtering process, don't use reports from too many datasets. Normally one or two datasets will provide enough data. For example, reports in the most common prebuilt dashboard tabs are based on one dataset.
Sometimes, you'll need to add reports to a dashboard from multiple datasets. In such situations, review the reports placed in the tab to ensure that they can't be created from the same datasets.
For more information about the metrics and attributes contained in each dataset, see Understanding Explore datasets.
Select the time filter attributes you need
Each dataset has multiple time attributes. All these attributes are listed in the time filter menu and can be used to filter the dashboard tab. If reports that were added to the dashboard are from multiple datasets, then time attributes from multiple datasets will be available in the filter menu.
The goal is to select only those time attributes that you actually want to use for filtering the reports in the tab. Normally, you will need one to three time attributes per tab. For example, the Tickets tab of the default Support dashboard uses two attributes for time filtering, Ticket created and Ticket solved.
Link data filters
If you are using more than one dataset in the same dashboard, you need to link data filter attributes to the equivalent attributes from other datasets.
For example, the Satisfaction tab of the default Support dashboard uses reports from two datasets, Tickets and Updates history. The data filters are based on the attributes from the Tickets dataset. To ensure that these filters are applied on all reports, they are linked with attributes from the Updates history dataset.
Exclude filters from reports
There are three main reasons for excluding dashboard filters from individual reports:
- You are using more than one attribute in the time filter
- You don't want some of the reports to be affected by a specific filter
- A dashboard filter might override results returned from a filter on the report itself
Dashboard filters can be disabled for each report via the Exclude filters setting. See Excluding reports from dashboard filters.
Use time filters
When using time filters on dashboards, it’s better to select a specific time limit rather than the All history value. Selecting All history means that no time frame is selected. In other words, it doesn’t filter any report on the dashboard. Additionally, the All history value isn't included in the new Explore dashboard builder.
As a result, if some reports on your dashboard have report-level filters, they will still apply even when the reports are viewed from the dashboard because All history doesn’t override them.
Save default filtered views using bookmarks
Values selected from a dashboard filter are not automatically saved. Therefore, the filter selections are reset each time the dashboard is accessed or reloaded. Because of this, it's important to set the default bookmark for each dashboard tab. This is especially important if a time filter is used in the tab or if the dashboard will be scheduled for email delivery or shared externally. For help with bookmarks, see Bookmarking dashboard states with filtered views.
Use filters across multiple tabs
With the right configuration, you can make data filters, time filters, and live data filters work across multiple dashboard tabs. To do so, you add the same filter to each tab you want it to affect. See Filtering results across multiple tabs.
33 comments
Jacob the Moderator
Hi @...
I usually want to prevent any filter on one tab from affecting queries on other tabs, and I make sure to tick the "Do not share across tab" checkbox. Have you tried un-ticking this for filters on your first tab and see if those filters apply to the queries in your other tabs?
2
Hannah Meier
Hello @...,
As discussed previously, the "reset" button on the bookmarks is working as designed. The "reset" button on a bookmark resets all filters so that they no longer impact any dashboard filters. If you have hidden filters that you wish to always be active, then I'd recommend that you hide the "reset" button on your bookmark widgets.
If you want a tab at the front of the dashboard that filters all other tabs on your dashboard, you can do this by making sure you place the same exact filters on each tab of the dashboard (hiding them is you don't want them to be visible) and making sure you have the "do not share across tab" box (mentioned by Jacob above) unchecked.
0
Mike Domin
Is there a way to set up a dashboard filter option to "is empty" or "is not empty" or something similar?
In this example, every single comment is in the dropdown when attempting to filter. I would like two options, tickets with comments and tickets without comments.
2
Romona
Hi Mike,
Romona, it sounds like I may need to know more about your use case in order to better assist. However in general when an attribute is added as a Data Filter but is not required on a Ticket, then you will likely have a "Null" value option among the other values for the attribute. The "Null" value represents the absence of any of the other attribute values. To learn more about this check out the article here:
https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360054847214-What-does-the-Null-option-mean-in-my-Explore-filter-
So in essence you can filter the attribute to show either the tickets where the filter attribute was applied ( by selecting the specific value of the attribute that was used on a ticket )or not applied, illustrating the "Null" value.
Romona | Technical Support Engineer | San Francisco
support@zendesk.com
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1
Eric Prado Estrada
Buen día tengan todos
Agradezco de antemano cualquier ayuda que pudieran darme
Tengo un filtro de agente, que me da todos los agentes registrados.
Para el usuario final del reporte quisiera solo darle la opción de elegir ciertos agentes de ese filtro. (es decir, prefiltrarle el filtro)
¿Hay alguna forma de lograrlo?
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4
James McCoy
I want to align all the Satisfaction charts to use Ticket Created Date, but when I change the dates I want to use in the filter config AND the query config, none of the data actually filters. Even when I modify the queries themselves and replace 'Ticket solved Date' with 'Ticket created Date', the data seems to remain tethered to its preferred date perspective.
How do I tell the Satisfaction tab to filter EVERYTHING by Ticket created date?
0
Jacob the Moderator
Hi James,
Not sure exactly what the cause of your issue is, but I suspect it could be either a hidden bookmark or maybe the queries themselves are excluding the filter you want.
I hope this helps.
0
Rosie
The clickable link features is available for ID attributes like Ticket ID, User ID and Organization ID. I'm afraid this is available with updater email or agent email.
If you believe that this functionality would be a welcome addition to Explore, I encourage you to create a new post in the General Product Feedback - Reporting and analytics (Explore) https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/1260801325209-Feedback-Reporting-and-analytics-Explore- in our community to engage with other users who have similar needs and discuss possible workarounds. Conversations with a high level of engagement ultimately get flagged for product managers to review when they go through roadmap planning.
Specific examples, details about impact, and how you currently handle things are helpful for our product teams to understand the full scope of the need when working on solutions.
We truly value customer feedback and your voice and votes in the forums help influence future Zendesk functionality.
0
Crawford Philleo
Hello - when linking data filters between data sets on a dashboard, is it required to link them from both filter widgets, or do you only need to do it for one of them? For example, if I have a "Submitter role" filter on a Tickets Data set filter, and an equivalent one on the Ticket Updates Data set, is it sufficient to Link via the Tickets filter only, or do you need to do this from one to the other on BOTH of them?
0
Giuseppe
Hi Crawford,
Based on my testing, if you have multiple data filters on a dashboard, but they are for the same attribute (for example, if you have 2 data filters and both of them are for Submitter role, one for Tickets dataset and one for Ticket updates dataset), then the linking will only apply to whichever filter you set the link to.
Let's say, like in the scenario above, in my dashboard, I have 2 data filters, one for Ticket dataset which is for Assignee Name (Widget 1 1), and the other for Ticket Updates dataset, for Assignee name as well (Widget 2). I change the settings for Widget 1 and link this to the Ticket Updates dataset. That means, if I change the filter value for this, then it will affect my Ticket Updates dataset query.
On the other hand, in the same dashboard, if I make changes to the Widget 2, then it will still only affect the Ticket Updates queries.
0
Menzer Joan
Hi - I have a dashboard which is set with a bookmark to filter (at the dashboard level) for tickets created, unsolved, solved "Last Week" (11/28 - 12/4) I have scheduled delivery for Sunday. For some reason the number of created tickets has changed from the snapshot that I received on Sunday (12/5) to today (12/8). I think I can understand why unsolved/solved might change, but wondering why the number of created tickets would change?
Received 12/5:
Dashboard 12/8:
0
Dave Dyson
Is it possible that tickets were deleted between those two dates? Deleted tickets are not shown in Explore: Deleting tickets
0
Menzer Joan
I checked with the agent and no tickets were deleted. We are also seeing the number increase from the report delivery snapshot and the live dashboard - example:
Delivered 12/12:
Viewing 12/13:
0
Dan Borrego
I would like to see some examples, so I am creating a ticket for this comment and you can provide me with some extra information there.
Thanks,
0
Martin Marino
Hi!
I have a dashboard with multiple filters that interact with graphs. However, when one filter is applied, it does not condition the rest of the filters. For example, if I have a user in the "Solution Type" filter with a value of "Core", and another called "Organization" with a value of "BANMEDICA", and I only want to filter by applicants who meet those requirements with a dedicated filter, all applicants from all organizations appear. Like there's no filters.
My idea is for the filters to be linked to each other, but I'm not sure if this is possible in Zendesk Explore.
0
Dane
As for Dashboard filters, you only have the capability to exclude the query from the filter or to select what dataset on all the queries will be affected. Hence, if you selected multiple filters it will apply it to all the query on your Dashboard and will not follow a hierarchy.
0
Alfredo Iglesias
Hi!
Does the "Link Data Filters" function work with "Sets"/"Groups" I have a group with all the values that need to be replicated and the Link does not work. I tried working with the main field "Assignee Name" and the link worked.
Can you explain to me if this is a supposed behavior, as when I filter for the Group created, the "Link Data Option" is available.
0
Elaine
When you're using multiple datasets in the same dashboard within Zendesk Explore, it's important to ensure that data filter attributes from one dataset are correctly linked to the equivalent attributes in other datasets. This ensures that filtering actions you apply to one dataset will also affect the data displayed in other datasets, maintaining data consistency and relevance across your dashboard. Please note that if the dropdown values within the set or group don't match, linking won't be possible.
0
Hannah Lucid
Hi! Is there a way to link time filters? I don't see the option available as shown in the screenshot.
0
Zsa Trias
Hello Hannah!
In the filter configuration, the option to 'link with' is used to match up the same fields from different datasets. But for time filters, you can simply pick all the ones you need from the list.
0
Sarge
Does the set bookmark remain in place when scheduling the report to send via PDF?
0
Gabriel Manlapig
Yes, bookmarks will remain and be applied to the dashboards sent to external users or end-users via scheduled deliveries or shared via an external link.
I hope that helps. Thank you!
0
Permanently deleted user
How can I create a dashboard like this:
0
Darenne
0
Ovidiu Marin
Hello!
I'm currently trying to build a dashboard and I'm encountering a few issues. I'm not sure if this is me doing something wrong or if there are differences between how Live Data and Reports work in Normal Dashboards vs Live Dashboards. My guess is that it's a bit of both.
For context - I am looking to achieve the following scenario:
1.
My dashboard needs to show Support - Agents Online and I need to be able to drill into the data. I basically want to see this:
This only works if I use the Beta dashboard. If I use the legacy dashboard I can't drill in. If I edit the dashboard to allow for drill in. In edit mode, once I go to Tab Options and select the drill in Interaction as being allowed, it will let me drill in, but will show me something totally different. Also, when I click Publish and then reload the dashboard, the drill in option gets unselected from the Interaction options.
This is what I see when I drill in in edit mode:
My conclusion so far is that in order to use Support - Agents Online Live data I *HAVE* to use Beta Dashboards - is this assumption correct?
2.
On the same dashboard, in the context of Omni Channel Routing, I want to see how much time has each agent spent in "Online" status on the current day. This used to work fine before October 9th, 2023. Not sure what changed on that day but I can now only report historically on Live data meaning that, in the aforementioned scenario, I can only see how much time people spent Online for previous days, but not for the current running day. This is valid using both the Agent state as well as the Agent state daily datasets. The difference is that Agent state daily gives me more data based on when agents change status throughout the day, but still not live. I can share screenshots but I realise that it would make this post too long.
3.
I have a report showing tickets assigned per person, broken down by each hour of the day, for the current day. Report runs fine, but I have trouble filtering it for historic data when I put it into a dashboard.
In a legacy dashboard, I have to add a dashboard filter, otherwise the ability to filter the report just isn't there(despite the report having filters). This is all fine but point 1 is a problem, both for the live data but also for the inability to drill in
In a beta dashboard, If I do add a dashboard filter, it will affect the other report(see point 4) as it is using the same metric, and I can't find a way to exclude it.
4.
I have a report showing tickets assigned per day for the current week. Identical issue to point 3.
I realise it's a long post, happy to break it down and provide further details as needed.
Thank you,
Ovidiu
0
James G
0
Andres Nuñez del Prado
Hello,
How can I exclude a report from a time filter when using the Beta Dashboards? I don't see any dropdown arrow as explained in this article:
https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408825695514-Time-filter-isn-t-working-when-I-choose-a-time-frame-Video
1
Denise von femSense
Hi,
How can you adjust the data filter in the new Dashboard builder? In the old Dashboard builder you were able to choose a display name, if multiple selections should be possible, different sorting options of the data and displaying the selected data.
I cannot find any of these options with the new builder??
1
Mayoo Inoue
Hello,
I'm using a new dashboard and when I click Time Filter in one tab, I see ‘Ticket created' and ‘Ticket solved’ are listed in Link filters. I only use the Support dataset in this tab. What does the portion in Link filters mean here?
0
Colin-Pierre Larnerd
Hi! In the new beta Dashboards, there is no option to select all or exclude data in filters.
For example, I have a filter for Ticket organization name, but I cannot select all or exclude any.
The legacy dashboard allows me to exclude data in the filter:
It's really important to at least Select All or Exclude data in the filters! When will this be available? Thanks!
3