4.1.3. Slicing, Filtering, and Configuring the Report Page
💡 First Principle: Filters narrow what readers see, and their scope decides how much of the report they affect. Choosing the right scope (one visual, one page, the whole report) and the right control (a visible slicer or the filter pane) determines whether readers can explore freely or are guided along a fixed path.
| Filter scope | Where set | Affects | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual-level | Filters on this visual | One visual | Top 10 products in one chart |
| Page-level | Filters on this page | All visuals on the page | Page dedicated to one region |
| Report-level | Filters on all pages | Every page | Exclude test data or a cancelled business unit |
| Drillthrough | Drillthrough well on target page | Target page when navigated | Detail page for the selected item (4.2.3) |
| Slicer | Visual on the canvas | Page (or synced pages) | Reader-controlled selection |
Filter types in the filter pane include basic (checkbox list), advanced (contains, starts with, is blank, greater than, with And/Or conditions), Top N (by a measure), and relative date/time (last 3 months, this year). Authors can lock a filter (readers see but can't change it), hide a filter (readers can't see it), rename filter cards, and hide or format the whole filter pane. Hiding a filter isn't security; data excluded by filters is still in the model.
Slicers put filters on the canvas. Types include list, dropdown, tile (button) slicer, between (range slider) for numbers and dates, relative date slicer, and hierarchy slicers. Options: single select, multi-select with Ctrl, Select all, search, and Apply buttons (useful for DirectQuery models so each click doesn't fire queries). Slicers can filter other pages through sync slicers (4.2.3), and visual interactions control which visuals a slicer affects (4.2.2).
Page configuration (Format pane with no visual selected): page size (16:9, 4:3, Letter, custom, or the special Tooltip size for report-page tooltips), page background and canvas background (wallpaper) with images and transparency, vertical alignment, page information such as allow use as tooltip and Q&A settings, and page visibility (hide pages used only for drillthrough or tooltips; hidden pages remain reachable through navigation). Page names should be meaningful because they appear in navigation and in the app.
⚠️ Exam Trap: "Ensure users can't change the filter that limits the page to the current fiscal year, but can see that it's applied" is lock the filter, not hide it. "Users shouldn't see the filter at all" is hide. Neither prevents a user with Build permission from querying the excluded data; that requires RLS (5.2.3).
Reflection Question: A report must always exclude internal test customers on every page, while each page has its own region focus. Which filter scopes would you use for each requirement, and why not a slicer for the first?
