Populate a filter with values that are not present in the data
Published: 01 Oct 2020 Last Modified Date: 08 Jul 2022
Question
How to populate a filter with values that are not present in the data
Environment
Tableau Desktop
Answer
The ability to populate a filter with values that are not present in the data (or a calculated field based on the data) is not currently a feature of the product.
As a possible workaround:
Connect to a second data source containing a dimension with which to populate the filter, and create a relationship (Data Sources > Edit Relationships) between the two data sources using the dimension.
On a worksheet built using the primary data source, click on the secondary data source in the list of data sources that appears in the upper left corner of Tableau Desktop.
Drag the field from the secondary data source onto the Filters shelf. The filter values should populate from the secondary data source, and so long as the linking field is enabled the resulting filter should be able to filter the view.
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