Slicers

Slicers are powerful visual filters that let users interact with dashboards in real-time by selecting values that dynamically filter data. They enhance the effectiveness of dashboards by allowing viewers to focus on what matters most to them—whether it’s sales performance by region, customer satisfaction by product category, or trends over specific date ranges.

Why Use Slicers?

Slicers provide multiple benefits for dashboard users:

Interactive Filtering: Allow end users to filter data on the fly without editing the report.
Improved Clarity: Highlight specific data points or groups to reduce visual noise.
Cross-Page Filtering: Certain slicers can apply filters across multiple pages of a dashboard.
Custom User Control: Give users control over which dimensions and measures to explore.

Where Slicers Apply

Slicers apply filters based on where they’re placed and the scope defined in their properties:

Scope	Effect
Auto	Default behavior. Filters the container if inside one, or the entire page otherwise.
Page	Filters only scenarios on the same page.
Dashboard	Filters all pages in the dashboard using the same dataset. Ideal for multi-page dashboards.

Available Slicer Types

Label Slicer — Filters a single data attribute with selectable values.
Multi-dimensional Slicer — Filters multiple attributes in a hierarchical list format.
Multi-dimensional Dropdown Slicer — Similar to the Multi-dimensional Slicer, but displayed in a compact dropdown for space-efficient layouts.
Date Range Slicer — Filters date fields using a specific date range and display granularity.
Relative Dates Slicer — Filters data based on relative dates (e.g., last 30 days, next 7 days).
Data Range Slicer — Filters numeric attributes based on a defined value range (e.g., sales or revenue).
Text Slicer — Filters based on user-entered text, such as searching by product name.
Composite Slicer — Lets users create custom filter conditions during dashboard use.
Slicer Control Buttons — Optimizes slicer performance and user experience, particularly for large datasets. This article covers the three buttons:
- Apply Slicers — Defers the application of slicer selections until the user clicks the button.
- Reset Slicers — Restores slicers to their initial or default state.
- Clear Slicers — Removes all selections from slicers, returning them to a neutral state.