How Do I Use a Filter on a Report?

Next up in our 'Basics' series, we have how to use a Filter in a Report. This is perfect for when you have the columns you need, and now you want to narrow down, segment, or otherwise filter the data to a specific view. E.g.

Show me only Sales to California. 

Show me only Orders containing a certain Product

Show me only Transactions involving this Payment Method. 

To do this, let's first choose the report I want to filter. In this case, we'll use the Orders - Line Items report. 

Adding a Filter

Step 1 - Click on 'Select filter' from the dropdown at the top. 

Step 2 - Type in the field you want to filter on. So for example, if I wanted to filter this report to only show instances where 2 (or more) of a given product are in an order, I could use a filter like 'Line Item Quantity', 'Greater than' and '1'. The end result might look like this: 

 Notice how now, all those prior Line Item entries that only had 1 of a given item have been filtered from the view. So this might be a useful report to run if, let's say, I was looking to create a report which only shows where multiples of an item have been bought in a single order (perhaps as part of some promotional discount?). 

Filters can be used for all sorts of things. Maybe I want to narrow down Orders to a certain State or Country? Orders above a certain price? Orders with a certain Payment Method, or Fulfillment Status? The possibilities are nearly endless. 

Multiple Filters - AND/OR

So now let's look at something that's a little bit more complicated - combining multiple filters together with AND/OR conditions. 

E.g. Suppose I wanted to limit that same report to show me line items with multiple quantities AND another filter option (e.g. the Product Title has to be the Supreme Swan).

Step 1 - First, I would click to the 'plus' button to add another filter option. 

 

Step 2 - I would type in the 'Line Item / Product title', choose 'equal to' and then type in 'Supreme Swan' 

Notice that now, the report only shows Orders that have more than one Supreme Swan being ordered. 

Step 3 - However, suppose I wanted to change this to be Orders that have either a Supreme Swan OR more than one of any given item. Here I would go to the top, and where it says AND, I would click to change it to OR.

Notice now that the report shows only orders that have multiple quantities of any given line item OR a Supreme Swan. 

Removing a Filter

Let's say I'm not happy with a filter, or simply want to remove it to try something different. Deleting a filter is a relatively easy step - all you need to do is hit the 'X' button next to a filter line to remove it from the Report. 

And that's it. Note - be sure to click the right 'X' immediately next to the line you are hoping to remove. You just have to be careful here with complicated, multi-level filters. 

Filter Groups

Now let's say I'm looking to really create some advanced filters that involve groups of conditions together. For example, maybe I want a report that shows only orders involving multiple quantities of an item AND the item must be either the Supreme Swan OR the Avocado Ahoy. 

For this, we'll use a filter group to organize our filters. For those of you who are more familiar with computer programming, logic, or even basic math operations, filter groups essentially work like Brackets/Parentheses to group certain fields together. 

This is much easier to understand with an example. 

Step 1 - Click the button to Add a Filter Group

 

Step 2 - Once again, change it to AND at the top, and add the Line Item Product Title equal to Unicorn Cruiser, like so: 

Step 3 - Now all I have to do is repeat the procedure to add another filter. This time, I would click the 'plus' button within the Filter Group, choose 'Line item / Product title', 'equal to' and 'Avocado Ahoy'.  Make sure to select OR for the second filter of course, as no product could be both titles simultaneously.

The end result should look like this: 

 

In other words, this gives us a filter that says Show me any orders that have more than one line item AND the product is either the Unicorn Cruiser OR the Avocado Ahoy.

Saving Filters 

Once you're happy with a Filter, you can save it for future use. This is ideal so that you don't have to create a fresh filter every time, particularly if you are using the same/similar filters across multiple reports. 

Step 1 - Click the Save Filter button at the top. You can then give your filter a name like so, e.g. I could type in 'Promo Offer filter' 

Step 2. Click Ok when you're done.  Note that this is a Line Item report, so this filter will now be available for use on any other Line Item reports (including this one, should you end up refreshing your browser or coming back to it at a later date). You'll notice that next time you navigate to a report that can use this filter type, the filter is available for use like so: 

If I selected this filter, it would then work exactly the same as if I had created the filter from scratch.

This is useful if you're working on very similar reports and don't want to start all over again with creating a fresh filter every time. E.g. Suppose I was working on the Sales by Product report and used a filter to show only Sales delivering to the United States. If I then wanted to use that same filter for the Product Variant report, I could pull it from my Saved filters and save myself a lot of hassle. 

Does Not Contain

The other great use for Saved Filters is to have the report show the opposite of what is in a filter. 

For example, suppose I wanted a filter to show an example where the report does NOT contain a certain variable.
E.g. Order is not in billing country US. 

Step 1. Save the filter as normal (and give it a name you will remember)

Step 2. Refresh the report, choose the saved filter from the filter dropdown, and then choose the option for 'Not in Filter'

And there you have it! 

For a more complete video version of this tutorial guide, check out our video series here. 

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