Visual interactions

By default, a selection in one visual filters every other visual on the page. In edit mode the interactions editor changes that one visual at a time: keep a visual out of a selection, or let a selection through again. The choices are saved with the report. To build filters and slicers, see Filters, slicers and interactions; for what a selection is and how to make one, see Cross-filtering and selections.

Set how a selection reaches the other visuals

1. Open the report and click Edit in the report header.
2. Hover the visual whose selection you want to control, open its options menu (Chart options) and choose Edit interactions. A toolbar opens above the canvas, reading Edit interactions, How {name} affects other visuals and a status.
3. On each other visual, use the two controls at its top-right corner: Filter this visual lets the selection narrow it, and Don't affect this visual keeps it out of the selection. Filter is already on for every visual, so in most reports you only set the visuals you want to take out.
4. To set every visual at once, click Filter all or None all. The buttons appear only when there is at least one visual to set.
5. Click Done to finish. Escape closes the editor too.

The status counts what still reacts. {affected} of {targets} affected tells you how many of the other visuals the selection still reaches, and No other visuals on this page appears when no other visual on the page can take the selection.

What the editor shows on the page

• The source visual carries a Selected visual badge, and the toolbar is named after it.
• A visual the selection no longer reaches shows Not affected and a hatched overlay.
• A copy of a synced slicer shares one entry with the selected slicer and shows Synced with selected, so one setting covers every copy.
• A custom visual set to Highlight shows Highlight this visual on its affect control: it keeps every row and marks the matching ones. A slicer selection always filters; only a mark selection can highlight.
• A visual that ignores every selection shows the longer wording: Don't affect this visual (this visual ignores all visuals).

While the editor is open

• Click another visual to make it the source. The Selected visual badge moves to it, and the toolbar describes that visual. Visuals do not drag while the editor is open, so a click retargets the editor instead of moving the visual.
• The editor closes when you click Done or press Escape, when you leave edit mode, when you switch to another page, and when the source visual is deleted.
• Every choice is a change to the report, and it can be undone: Filter all and None all apply every visual in one step, and a change to one visual undoes on its own.

Which visuals take part

• A selection starts in a visual whose marks you can click: Bar, Line, Pie, Donut, Combo, Funnel, Key tree, Slicer, Slicer group and Custom visual. Choose a Table, Matrix, KPI or another visual that cannot start a selection, and the toolbar answers This visual type can't filter other visuals.
• A field parameter slicer cannot be the source either: it switches fields on every visual, and the toolbar answers Field parameter slicers switch fields on every visual and can't be turned off per visual. See Field parameters.
• The editor works on the active page. Visuals on other pages do not appear in it, and the slicers on the footer filter canvas never show the Filter and None controls.
• A mark selection belongs to the visual you clicked; a slicer selection belongs to the slicer's field and scope. Blocking a slicer source keeps that field and scope out, including from its copies on other pages.

Custom visuals: filter or highlight

A custom visual has its own settings on the Visual tab, in the Interactions section:

• Acts as > Visual: the visual cross-filters other tiles from its marks.
• Acts as > Slicer: it filters every tile on its first Data field, keeps its selection across pages and never filters itself.
• Selection from other tiles > Filter: the visual narrows its rows to the selection like a native chart. Highlight: it keeps every row and marks the selected ones. This choice is offered in the Visual role only.

A new custom visual acts as a Visual. See Custom visuals and the visual library.

Check what reaches a visual

Open a visual's menu and choose Applied filters to see everything narrowing it from outside, grouped as On this page, On this visual, Slicers and Selections in other visuals. With nothing filtering it, the list reads Nothing outside this visual is filtering it. See Read a report.

Questions, answered

Do my interaction choices change the report for others?

Yes. The choices are saved with the report, so every reader gets the same behaviour: a visual you took out of a selection stays out for everyone. The selection itself is the personal part; a click on a mark changes only your view and is never saved. See Cross-filtering and selections.

Why don't I see Edit interactions?

Edit interactions sits in the visual's Chart options menu, so it appears only while you edit a report you can change. A reader without edit access does not get it, and a visual expanded to fill the canvas does not show Chart options until you collapse it. See Who can do what in DataPrism.

Can I make another visual the source without closing the editor?

Yes. Click another visual while the editor is open and it becomes the source: the Selected visual badge moves to it, and the toolbar starts describing that visual. Visuals do not drag while you edit interactions, so a click picks a visual instead of moving it.

Why did the editor close by itself?

It closes on Done or Escape, and by design in three more cases: when you leave edit mode, when you switch to another page, and when the source visual is deleted. Open it again from any visual's options menu.

What do the Selected visual, Synced with selected and Not affected badges mean?

Selected visual marks the visual whose selection you are setting. Synced with selected marks a copy that shares the selected slicer's entry, so setting one covers every copy. Not affected marks a visual that stays out of this selection; it carries a hatched overlay too.

Why can't a field parameter slicer be the source?

It switches fields on every visual, so its effect cannot be turned off visual by visual, and the toolbar answers Field parameter slicers switch fields on every visual and can't be turned off per visual. Pick a regular slicer or a chart to set what a selection reaches. See Field parameters.

What does Don't affect this visual (this visual ignores all visuals) mean?

The visual ignores every selection, not only this one. Choosing Filter this visual lets this source through and keeps every other source blocked, so the setting becomes the list of sources the visual still ignores.

Is Filter the default, or something I set?

Filter is the default. A visual reacts to a selection unless the editor has stored an exception for it, and choosing Filter this visual again clears that exception.

Do Filter all and None all undo as one step?

Yes. Each of the two applies every visual in one change, so a single undo brings the whole action back. Changes you make to one visual undo on their own.

Why do some visuals show no Filter or Don't affect controls?

Only the visuals on the active page that can receive a selection get the pair of controls. The slicers on the footer filter canvas never get them, and a custom visual with nothing bound has no rows to narrow, so it shows no controls.