Reports – Types of Filters
Date Filters
Dropdown Filters
Number Filters
Free Text Filters
Date Filters
To filter on any date field in a report, you will see the following options display when clicking on the filter icon.
The first option is a dropdown with the choices, ‘match all’ and ‘match any’. This is because you can have multiple rules in this one filter so here you can decide if the data needs to meet every condition in this filter or just one.
After selecting this you can then choose from the second dropdown:
Date is = Only look for data in this field exactly on the date chosen from the calendar
Date is before = Only look for data in this field that is before the date chosen from the calendar
Date is after = Only look for data in this field that is after the date chosen from the calendar
Date is between = Only look for data in this field if it falls exactly between the two dates chosen from the calendar
Today = Only look for data in this field if it is today’s date
Tomorrow = Only look for data in this field if it is tomorrow’s date
Yesterday = Only look for data in this field if it is yesterday’s date
This week = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the current calendar week
This month = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the current calendar month
This year = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the current calendar year
Next week = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the next calendar week
Next month = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the next calendar month
Next year = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the next calendar year
Next number of days = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the next number of days specified by you
Last week = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the previous calendar week
Last month = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the previous calendar month
Last year = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the previous calendar year
Last number of days = Only look for data in this field if it is anywhere in the last number of days specified by you
Date is not blank = Only look for data in this field.
Date is blank = Only show me records where there is no data in this field
+ Add Rule
This is to allow you to set multiple conditions such as ‘This Year’ as the first rule, and then ‘After - 01/02/2024’ as the second rule, this way you can tell the report to look only for dates in the current year, but still ignore all of January.
Dropdown Filters
Dropdown filters are presented as a tick box list where you select the first option from the dropdown between;
Equals = Is exactly
Not equals = Is anything not exactly
Is empty = Has no information in it/blank
Is not empty = Has any information in it/not blank
After selecting from the first dropdown, you can then use the second dropdown to select the items you are looking for in the report that are Equal/Not equal to.
For example, if you wanted to tell the report to only look as specific training course records, you would filter on the field ‘Course’, select the option ‘Equals’ from the first dropdown, and then select/tick the specific courses you wish to report on.
Number Filters
Number fields are filtered like dates, the main difference is when you are applying the filter you enter a numerical value instead of a date value.
The first option is a dropdown with the choices, ‘match all’ and ‘match any’. This is because you can have multiple rules in this one filter so here you can decide if the data needs to meet every condition in this filter or just one.
Select from the second dropdown menu the relevant option.
Equals = Is exactly
Less than = Is lower than the number specified
Greater than = Is more than the number specified
Not equals = Is anything not exactly
Greater than equal to = Can be equal to the amount specified or a higher value
Less than equal to = Can be equal to the amount specified or a lower value
Is empty = Has no information in it/blank
Is not empty = Has any information in it/not blank
Example: Filtering on training progress to ignore anything not started or completed
Free Text Filters
Just like with dates and numbers, the first decision is a dropdown with the choices, ‘match all’ and ‘match any’. This is because you can have multiple rules in this one filter so here you can decide if the data needs to meet every condition in this filter or just one.
The second dropdown is the choices:
Equals = Text must match exactly
Not equals = Text must not match exactly
Starts with = Text must start with the specified character
Contains = Text must contain the text specified
Ends with = Text must end with the specified character
Not contains = Text must not contain anywhere in the field, the text specified
Is blank = Text field must be completely empty to find results
Is not blank = Text field must some information in it to find results
Example: Search training notes for the word ‘cost’