Behaviour of report filters applied in combination

Question

It was my understanding that when a value is selected in a filter on a report, other filters would adjust to only include values from the resulting set of records - i.e. you could only select from values that occur in the record set you are viewing.

For example, in a table where request types are grouped into categories, picking a single request category in a filter would mean you would only see request types relating to that category in the filter for that column.

That's not how filtering is working, so ... has it always been this way, or has something changed?

markshnier__you · Answer

You are understanding is correct. Are you seeing the same behavior on Legacy Table reports as well as new style reports?

jeremyanson · Answer

Thanks Mark. Yes, I've just checked, and I'm seeing the same behaviour on legacy table reports.&nbsp;

markshnier__you · Answer

&nbsp;Well, my first reaction is that there must be some kind of "user confusion".&nbsp; While the new style table reports are new and I definitely have seen unusual behaviour with filters, it seems impossible that Legacy table reports that have been around for at least 10 years with Dynamic Filters could have that as a bug.For my own curiosity I'd love to see a legacy report behave that way.&nbsp; If you wanted to show it to me you could contact me off-line at mark.shnier@gmail.com&nbsp; &nbsp; Alternatively that would take a support ticket for sure because it seems impossible&nbsp;&nbsp;

jeremyanson · Answer

So, it seems that what we're seeing with new style reports is 'currently the correct behaviour'.

When switched to old style, the dynamic filters also do not adjust based on other dynamic filter selections, so it doesn't help us out in this case. It's been a while since I've used old style reports and I can't remember if this has always been the case; I suspect it has been.

markshnier__you · Answer

Yes, dynamic filters have always behaved that way. They do not dynamically refresh the dynamic filters as you make one selection. But if you have a business need for that, a used case then there are alternatives.

One alternative which I don't really like, is to start with a report that has an asked the user question to immediately narrow down the qualifying records, then your dynamic filters may be more relevant.

is to start with a report that has an asked, the user question to immediately narrow down the qualifying records, then your dynamic filters may be more relevant.

But my preferred method would be to create a summary report with rows and columns for the user to land on and then according to where they drill into the summary report, into a row or a column heading or a cell, then they will instantly be filtered to just include those qualifying records.

Then you can decide from there if you want to land the user on another summary report or write into a report of details. take note that when you can figure a summary report you can also control the drill down behavior, as to which report it drills down to the drill down too should be an unfiltered report as it will inherit the filters according to where you drilled down.

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Behaviour of report filters applied in combination