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MikeC25
Regular Visitor

Locate date filters to current date on report open

Hi
A function I miss from Tableau is to enable a "locate date filters to current date on report open".
I have created two filters from the "Commission Date" field hierarchy of year and month and I would like these to locate on current date on report open. This way the report will always be on the right period when opened otherwise it will stay as initially published for new users. I assume existing users would return to the report with the parameters as last left unless they click “reset to default” for the report so for them it may be less of a pain.
Thanks
Mike

This should locate on current year and month on report openThis should locate on current year and month on report openExample of how Tableau sets the optionExample of how Tableau sets the option

7 REPLIES 7
d_gosbell
Super User
Super User

Both slicers and the filters in the filter pane have the option of using a relative date "mode".

201912 relative slicer.png

And you can then choose an option to set the report to run as of "this day"

201912 relative date.png

Your users can change from the Relative mode back to one of the other manual modes if they like or you can set up bookmarks with buttons to make it easier to switch between the various modes.

Thanks for the reply but if you look at the date filters I'm using, it is not a "day" grain but a monthly one. Sorry - the title of this post could have been clearer. So I'm asking that the year filter locate on current year and for the month filter to locate on current month. I used the term "current date" from Tableau logic which means "current date within the hierarchy" - ie, it may be 17 Dec 2019 but the date hierarchies of year and month will locate to their current date values on report open.

 

Further to your example, I know about "relative" option but it is a clunky option where the user has to remember to choose "calendar month" but besides that it provides no option to select a discrete month of say "September" when it is now December.

 

You are suggesting this but it is not a solution to my problem.

You are talking about this option but it is not a solution to my problemYou are talking about this option but it is not a solution to my problem


@MikeC25 wrote:

Thanks for the reply but if you look at the date filters I'm using, it is not a "day" grain but a monthly one. Sorry - the title of this post could have been clearer. So I'm asking that the year filter locate on current year and for the month filter to locate on current month. I used the term "current date" from Tableau logic which means "current date within the hierarchy" - ie, it may be 17 Dec 2019 but the date hierarchies of year and month will locate to their current date values on report open.

 


So as you can see in the screen shot I posted you don't have to choose just date, there are options for week, month and year as well.

 


Further to your example, I know about "relative" option but it is a clunky option where the user has to remember to choose "calendar month" but besides that it provides no option to select a discrete month of say "September" when it is now December.

 


You are right, it is a clunky option. The user can change to picking a discrete month like September, but they have to know to switch the filter out of "relative mode" first. I think this area of date pickers in Power BI could do with some usability improvements.

 

What I've done on a few reports is to create a button linked to a bookmark for "Current Month" that sets the slicer to relative date mode using the current month and hides it from the user. And then a second button called "Selected Date" which sets the slicer back to "between mode" and makes it visible to the user. 

 

It's definitely clunky, but it's the best work around I've found at the moment.

"So as you can see in the screen shot I posted you don't have to choose just date, there are options for week, month and year as well."

Yeah I saw that - the point is it doesn't address the problem based on the examples I attached.

 

Your bookmark idea seems viable. I'll need to read up on how. Thanks for the ideas.

Bookmark idea: So I tried this out and learnt "Buttons" and "Bookmarks" in the process. Nice workaround for shifting a relative date filter from current month to last month with buttons but still no closer to my original examples where I need the month hierarchy as a selectable list (and the year). Looks like I'll need to wait for Power BI to improve the date filter options or allow filters to be changed programmatically. 


@MikeC25 wrote:

 Looks like I'll need to wait for Power BI to improve the date filter options or allow filters to be changed programmatically. 


Then you should also create or vote for this idea on https://ideas.powerbi.com  I had a quick look and I think this idea is possibly similar https://ideas.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi-ideas/suggestions/7162004-default-selected-slicer-o... . I just voted for that one, but I also added a comment as I don't think the suggestion from Microsoft that their "sticky filters" feature (where any filter selections can be remembered the next time the user opens the report) will actually meet this requirement.

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