Date Slicer Misleading Behaviour

[KNP]

I've done a bit of searching and found very similar if not identical issues raised where the response was, "this is by design", "this is working as intended".

Rather than try and explain the entire issue in text, I've attached a video with commentary.

I understand why it is happening but I think if it is "by design", the design needs to be changed.

DateSlicerMisleadingBehaviour.zip

relative_date_range_slicer_issue.pbix

[JasonShanks]

I agree with KNP.  This behavior has caused quite a bit of confusion for our users and forced us to re-validate reports unnecessarily.

[v-robertq-msft]

Hi,

Would you like to post a download link of the pbix file with this issue without the sensitive data which is used and displayed in the video you posted, then we will submit this issue as an ICM if it’s an existing issue in the Power BI?

I also suggest you to make sure you have updated to the latest version of the Power BI desktop.

Thank you very much!

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Robert Qin

[JasonShanks]

Hi Robert,

I confirmed that I'm using the latest version of Power BI Desktop and have a link to the .pbix file below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DdY0GlvAbHKZEjS8d8X0rUyEOwQ7bVC2/view?usp=sharing

Thank you,

Jason

[KNP]

@v-robertq-msft -  I've attached the PBIX file I used in the video for reference also.

[v-robertq-msft]

Hi,

I have reported this issue internally, ICM: 285732961

I will update here once I get any information.

Thank you very much!

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Robert Qin

[lbendlin]

I agree that this is an issue, but also want to point out that the directive for a calendar table is that it must cover all fact dates.  That is not the case here. If you had used CALENDARAUTO() the issue would not show.

[KNP]

@lbendlin - I understand your point about the date table. I only added a date table originally to try and solve the original issue. The same behaviour also exists if you use a date from the fact table. 

[v-robertq-msft]

Hi,

In the latest update of this ICM, this issue is resolved by design. Here’s the comment:

The way that filters (slicers included) work is that when they are in their default, nothing selected state, this is equivalent to picking "Select all". When you've selected all of the values it is essentially the same as not filtering out any of them, so we don't apply that filter to any of the other visuals on the page. This is why when the date slicer is in its default state, the "Earliest OpenDate" card doesn't get filtered at all, but if you select some values from the slicer it does filter it. You can imagine that if the slicer is in its default state, it is equivalent of it not being there at all - the presence of a slicer alone should not alter other visuals.

I understand that the customer has been dissatisfied with the "this is by-design" answer previously, but I hope that some of this extra information helps them understand our design decision. If they have suggestions for how this experience could be improved to be less misleading to the end user we are always open to hear it - they can share back via this thread or post on ideas.powerbi.com.

If the customer is looking for a way to get all of the data on the page to reflect the slicer even in the default state, then I recommend moving the relative date filter on the slicer from a visual level filter to a page level filter. This should produce the desired result of filtering all visuals without needing to select anything on the slicer. 

Thank you very much!

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Robert Qin

[JasonShanks]

Thank you for the update!  This is good information to know.  I confirmed that adding the page-level filter resolved the issue on our reports.  Thank you all for your help!