Slicers

A slicer lists the distinct values of one column and writes your picks into the report's selection, so the other visuals on the page re-run against them. Use one when readers should choose the values a report shows, such as a region, a year or a status.

Add a slicer

1. Select Edit in the report header. It appears only when you can edit the report; saving is covered on Build a report.
2. In the Visualizations panel, pick Slicer from the Filters group. The full catalogue is on Visuals.
3. On the Fields tab, drag a column from BI tables into the slicer's Field well. With no field yet, the tile reads Drag a field to Field to list its values.
4. On the Visual tab, choose a Style and set the selection options below.

Ticking a value on the tile changes the report's selection, and every other visual on the page then re-executes to match. The selection then behaves like any other cross-filter; see Cross-filtering and selections.

Pick a style

Style offers three value styles, and a date column swaps them for its own.

• List (the default) shows the values as a vertical checklist, with a count beside a value where the report provides one.
• Tile shows each value as a tile, laid out with Layout: Wrap (the default), Column, Row or Grid. Columns and Rows start at 3 and go up to 20; in Grid, the rows follow the tile's visible height.
• Dropdown keeps the values behind a trigger. Its popover opens with the search box focused and holds a search strip, the value list and a footer with the tick count and a Clear link. The list scrolls inside a fixed height. The closed trigger shows a summary: All, a count such as 3 selected, or the single value's name.

A saved date style on a column that is not a date falls back to List, and so does a style that cannot show the levels in the Field well, rather than dropping a level. Date styles themselves are covered on Date slicers.

Choose how values are selected

• Selection is Multi-select (the default) or Single select. Ticking the value that is already ticked clears it again, unless a value must stay selected. In Single select, the ticks draw as radio-like dots.
• Force selection keeps at least one value ticked. It is off by default with Multi-select and on with Single select, and while it applies the last value cannot be cleared. A field parameter slicer always keeps one entry, starts on the first, and its Select all picks every entry.
• Show "Select all" adds a Select all row, or a Select all tile in the Tile style. It is three-state: checked, indeterminate or unchecked. Ticking every value one by one fills it too, because a full selection reads as all selected; unticking it clears the selection when the slicer may be emptied, and falls to the first value when it may not.
• The dropdown footer's Clear link empties the selection. It is absent when the slicer must keep a value, and when nothing is ticked.

Search and narrow the list

• Show search adds a Search values… box. The search runs on the server after you pause typing, over the whole column rather than only the loaded values. If the search box is turned off on the slicer, an active search is dropped so the list is not left filtered.
• Show "Selected only" narrows the list to the values you ticked. It appears once something is ticked, in any style except Tile, and it switches off when you untick the last value.
• The list loads its values a page at a time, and more load as you scroll near the end. Values per load under General > Limits sets the page size, 1,000 by default; see Chart limits.
• An empty value draws as (blank), and counts beside values use your locale's separators. A search with no match reads No values match the search, while the next page of values is loading the footer reads Loading more…, and an empty column reads No values for this field.
• A slicer never narrows its own values: the list keeps the values of its column while your picks narrow the other visuals.

Stack fields into a hierarchy

• Drop more than one column into the Field well of a List or Dropdown slicer to stack the values into a hierarchy, up to five levels. Each level loads as you expand it: use the chevrons to Expand and Collapse a node, and click a row label to toggle its tick. Tile and date styles stay at one level.
• A node whose ancestor is ticked reads fully ticked; a node with a ticked value beneath it reads indeterminate. Ticking a node replaces everything selected under it, so unticking it is unambiguous.
• When you untick a node that an ancestor covers, the ancestor is replaced by its other children once they are all loaded; while some are still unloaded, the whole branch is dropped instead, so the result is never wider than you asked for.
• In Single select, a pick that rests on a parent settles on that parent's first value, so exactly one value is ticked at the finest level available.

Group several slicers in one tile

Pick Slicer group to put several columns in one compact tile, one dropdown row per column, each row filtering the report on its own.

1. In the Visualizations panel, pick Slicer group from the Filters group, then drop up to 20 columns into the Fields well; the hint reads Drop fields to list. Each one filters the report.
2. On the tile, open a row's dropdown and pick values. The row writes its own selection into the report, and picking in one row narrows the other rows' lists while a row's own list stays complete.

• Each row shows the field's custom name, or its column name. Rows are always dropdowns, so the tile has no Style or date controls. A date column cannot join a group; use a date slicer of its own. Each column appears once.
• A row that follows a report-wide slicer shows a globe and Synced with global slicer. Its Reset slicer control, titled Clears the global slicer on all pages, clears that selection on every page, and it appears only while the row actually filters and may be emptied; it never appears for a forced or field-parameter slicer, or when Select all is the only pick.
• When a row cannot list its values it says why: Not supported in a slicer group for a field kind a group does not take, Field unavailable when the column cannot be resolved, and Already shown above when the same column is already a row. A row whose list fails to load reads Could not load values.

Where a slicer's selection applies

• A slicer on a page filters only that page, while a slicer in the footer Filters panel and every copy of a slicer synced across pages filter every page.
• Copies of one synced slicer share a single selection, Select all included: picking a value on one page shows on every copy.
• For syncing a slicer across pages, and for promoting one into the Filters panel, see Filters, slicers and interactions.

Questions, answered

Why does ticking the last value fill in "Select all"?

Ticking every value one by one counts as selecting all, so the box fills in on its own. A full selection and a cleared slicer show the same data, so the tile tracks which of the two you meant and keeps them apart.

Why did all my ticks clear when I unticked one value?

Unticking one value from a full list means all except this one, and that can only be written out when every value is loaded. When the list is partial, the slicer clears the ticks instead of silently keeping the values it cannot see.

Why does unticking "Select all" leave one value ticked?

Unticking Select all is not the same as unticking the last value: the slicer cannot be emptied while Single select or Force selection applies, so it falls to the first value instead. Switch to Multi-select with Force selection off to allow an empty selection.

How do I clear a slicer's selection?

Open its dropdown and use the Clear link in the footer; it is not offered when the slicer must keep a value. A Reset slicer control appears where a slicer actually filters and can be emptied, never on a forced or field-parameter slicer; on a row synced to a report-wide slicer it clears that selection on every page.

Why are only some of my column's values listed?

The list loads values a page at a time, 1,000 by default (Values per load under General > Limits). More load as you scroll near the end, and the search box looks over the whole column on the server, so a value that is not loaded yet is still findable. See Chart limits.

Why does my slicer show a tree instead of a flat list?

More than one column sits in its Field well, so List and Dropdown stack them into a hierarchy. Remove the extra columns from the well to return to a flat list; Tile shows one level.

What does an indeterminate tick mean in a hierarchy slicer?

Part of that branch is selected: the node has a ticked value somewhere below it, but is not fully ticked itself. A tick on the node covers everything under it, and ticking a node replaces what was selected below.

What does the globe on a slicer group row mean?

The row follows a report-wide slicer. A slicer in the Filters panel, or one synced across pages, already filters that column, so the row shows Synced with global slicer and uses that slicer's values and pick. Its Reset slicer clears the global selection on every page.

Why does a slicer group row say "Already shown above"?

The same table and column is already a row higher in the group, and a group lists each column once. Remove the duplicate from the Fields well.

Why does a slicer say "No values for this field"?

The column has no values under the filters currently applied, so its list is empty. An empty list is a real answer, not a broken slicer: clear the report's other selections or check the column, and the values appear with the data.

Why is the same value ticked on another page's copy of my slicer?

The tiles are copies of one slicer synced across pages, and copies share a single selection, Select all included. Pick on one page and the others follow; that shared selection is also what lets a panel slicer filter every page.

Why was my saved slicer selection dropped after I changed its field?

A saved selection belongs to the column and levels it was made on. When the slicer points at another column, or its levels change, the old pick no longer matches the values on show, so it is left out rather than applied to the wrong values.