Create a Visualization Filter

Beginning in Strategy (July 2026), you can synchronize visualization filter selections across pages.

You can select attribute elements or metric values to filter data that displays in a visualization by creating a visualization filter. The filter can target other visualization filters as well, to create cascading filters such as a State filter targeting a County filter to reduce the number of counties displayed.

Visualization filters are also referred to as in-canvas filters to distinguish them from chapter filters.

  1. Open the dashboard you want to modify.

  2. Select the chapter that contains the visualization to filter.
  3. In the toolbar, click Filter and choose Element/Value Filter. An empty filter displays in the dashboard.
    • Starting in Strategy One (September 2025), you can create the filter on a selector panel or window. Selector panels and windows can display multiple filters and selectors, so end users can easily view all their choices in one place. End users can also modify multiple filters in bulk and apply all the selections at once. For steps and an example, see Create a Selector Panel or Window.
  4. Drag an attribute or metric for filtering from the Datasets panel to the empty filter.
  5. Select the objects to be filtered.
    1. In the filter, click Select Target.
    2. Click the target visualizations or other visualization (in-canvas) filters within the same page to select them.
    3. Click Apply.
  6. To force target visualization attribute filters to automatically update when you change filter selections, complete the following steps:
    1. Click More in the filter and select Edit Targets.
    2. In the filter bar at the top of the page, click Settings.
    3. Select the Update targets automatically check box.
    4. Click Apply.
    5. Click Apply again.

    When you select Update Targets Automatically, the target attribute filter will automatically clear when you change selections in the parent. This is helpful when you are filtering hierarchies, such as Geography. This behavior forces you to make a new lower level selection of the hierarchy, such as State, when a higher level selection of the hierarchy, such as Region, is updated.

    If a target attribute filter uses a default dynamic selection filter and the Update Target Automatically option is selected in the parent attribute filter, the dynamic filter will automatically reset and the dynamic default selection will apply. This results in the first or last N elements that belong to the new selection made in the parent to automatically select. This ensures you always have a valid selection in the hierarchy.

  7. For an attribute filter:
    • You can create a dynamic selection filter that automatically updates to the most current or specific data, according to the sequence of items in the filter list.
    • You can require that users make a filter selection before displaying data.
    • Select a dataset as a source for the attribute elements.By default, all datasets are considered as potential sources for filtering, so limiting the element source enhances performance. Follow the steps below:
      1. Click More in the filter.
      2. Point to Limit Element Source and select the dataset.
  8. For a metric filter, select how to qualify the filter:
    • Qualify on Value: Displays data by the selected metric values.

    • Qualify on Rank: Assigns a numeric rank of Highest, Lowest, Highest %, or Lowest % to the selected metric values.

  9. To clear the filter selections, Click More in the filter and select Unset Filter.
  10. You can choose whether to hide or display the filter's context menu for end users. The context menu allows them to switch between including and excluding selections and to unset (clear) the filter selections.
    1. Click More in the filter.
    2. Select Hide Context Menu or Display Context Menu. The context menu is always displayed in editing mode.
  11. You can prevent users from making selections to the filter when viewing in Library, Library Mobile, or the Strategy application. Click More in the filter and select Disable Interactions in Library.

    Users must reset the dashboard to see the disabled filter interaction if the following scenarios are true:

    • If filter manipulations were saved to the bookmark prior to enabling the Disable Interaction in Library setting.

    • If filter manipulations were made to the source dashboard of a contextual link prior to enabling the Disable Interaction in Library setting.

    12. If the Display Filter and Selector Descriptiondashboard property is enabled, object descriptions display as tooltips in filters. This property is new starting in MicroStrategy ONE (December 2024).

  12. Save the dashboard.

Related Topics

Visualization Filters and Selectors