The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Keep Range Quick Filters Simple

Data

The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Keep Range Quick Filters Simple

The Tableau Performance Checklist series is designed to help you streamline your dashboard performance and Tableau Server configuration. Each post expands upon one item listed in the master Tableau Performance Checklist.

The next guideline in our list of Filtering tips is:

“Keep range quick filters simple. The more complex the range, the slower the query.”

Sound exciting? Let’s go!

Quick Filter Overview

Quick filters are a quick and easy way to add interactivity to your visualization or your dashboard, either with local filters or global filters. You have a lot of different options in how your quick filters operate. The options that you’ll be able to choose from will be contextual based on the data type of your field.

The range quick filter is available with numeric and date fields. Here’s what it looks like:

Tableau range quick filter

You can set both ends of the date timeline to be adjustable as well as just the start or the end date.

Performance Problems

Problems arise with this type of quick filter when there are too many unique values in the filter options. We addressed this topic in part in a previous Performance Checklist article on high-cardinality in quick filters. For example, having a date range on your quick filter over a five-year period sounds reasonable enough but not if you can filter down to the day level. If you don’t prepare your filter or associated field, then that’s exactly what you’d be doing.

Not only does this slow down your visualization, but it also offers a level of detail on your filter that isn’t particularly useful for your report consumer.

Simple Is Always Best

The rule of thumb here is to keep any quick filters that uses a range as simple as possible. Rather than using any date dimension in your data source, such as Date of Sale or Shipping Date as your filter, consider just using the year or year and month as your filter values.

If your report consumer needs to see data down to a specific day, then that’s probably best handled in a separate visualization and not with a range quick filter.

Mastering Best Practices

If you’re interested in becoming a Tableau Server guru, then learning these performance best practices is essential. Check back frequently as we add new posts and dive deeper into each point in the Tableau Performance Checklist

Another great way to identify best practices is to leverage the insights offered by our Performance Analyzer, part of Workbook Tools for Tableau. It will examine all of your workbooks, worksheets, dashboards and data sources against a list of best practices to ensure that you’re using all the tips and tricks to guarantee your visualizations are moving at light speed.

As always, feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions regarding performance or anything Tableau related! We’d be happy to help.

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Want More The Tableau Performance Checklist

  1. The Tableau Performance Checklist
  2. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Data – Keep Analysis Simple
  3. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Data – Bring in Only Needed Data
  4. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Data – Use ‘Describe’ to Explore
  5. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Data – Remove Unused Columns from Extracts
  6. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Data – Use One TDS File
  7. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Data – Use Extracts
  8. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Minimize Quick Filters
  9. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Avoid ‘Only Relevant Values’ in Quick Filters
  10. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Avoid High-Cardinality Quick Filters
  11. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Avoid Quick Filters That Drive Context Filters
  12. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Keep Range Quick Filters Simple
  13. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Use Dashboard Filter Actions
  14. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Filtering – Don’t Be Lazy with User Filters
  15. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Custom SQL – Limit in Live Connections
  16. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Custom SQL – Avoid Parameters
  17. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Custom SQL – Watch for Useless Clauses
  18. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Calculations – Use Calculated Fields Carefully
  19. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Calculations – Limit Blended Calculations
  20. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Calculations – Avoid Row-Level Calculations Involving Parameters
  21. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Rendering – Avoid High Mark Counts
  22. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Rendering – Limit Text Tables With Lots of Marks
  23. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Rendering – Minimize Image & Shape File Sizes
  24. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Rendering – Use Transparent Background PNGs
  25. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Local Computations – Server Performance
  26. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Local Computations – Table Calculations
  27. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Dashboard Layout – Limit Number of Worksheets
  28. The Tableau Performance Checklist: Dashboard Layout – Fix Dashboard Size

More About the Author

Robert Curtis

Managing Director, APAC
Building Solutions with InterWorks at Corinium’s Data Architecture Conference in Melbourne InterWorks was a proud sponsor of the Data Architecture Conference hosted by Corinium in Melbourne on 21 and 22 June 2023. Hundreds of ...
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