Filter pane - removing a large number of values

[twofingertyper]

Hi all, 

I want to use my filter pane to reduce the clutter in my data - particularly when users are entering text boxes.

I can obviously limit things based on entries, so specific 'is not' selections for things such as 'aaa', '....', '--', etc. but is there a better way to do this - either as a calculated column/measure/power query, or just as a way to have a large amount of slicers brought to bear on the same data column?

Thanks! 

[Ritaf1983]

Hi @twofingertyper 

Technically, you can add a test column that will return true/false based on a nested condition if all the strings you think shouldn't be there and filter the report accordingly.

Logically, I didn't quite understand the problem that a user will type whatever he wants because anyway we are talking about filtering only, nothing that a user types affects the database.

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[twofingertyper]

Sorry - the field in the database is drawn from a form where the field is 'free text' meaning there's no limits or controls on what the user enters. 

I can go through and add a slicer that removes things that appear as 'aaa', '###' or similar (where the user has entered rubbish, basically) but there's such a long list of random entries that I wondered if there was a better way of doing it. 

A calculated column to flag records with some rules (length, ensuring that the entry is text as opposed to symbol - if that's possible, etc) along with using TRIM on the initial column may be the way forward here.  

[Ritaf1983]

Hi @twofingertyper 

I'm probably missing something, but I still don't understand what this has to do with the slicer...

All the problems with the open text field are database problems, why do you want to limit report users to typing things into the filters?

It's just a slicer and affects the values ​​that will be filtered... The database is not affected by this in any way...

Or are you talking about a situation where you have a Power Automate process allowing report users to type back into the database?

[twofingertyper]

I don't want to limit the users entry, I want to use the slicer (or other method) to filter out the poor quality entries that are displayed in the PowerBI - a type of quality control to remove blanks and other none text values. 

Ideally it would be dealt with at the user input stage, but that's not happening for the foreseeable future. 

[aduguid]

I've used a few buttons with some bookmarks to achieve this. You could then turn on and off filter areas by using the selection pane and saving the bookmark.