Filter data (use dimensions)

Dimensions, which are categories or segments of data, are a quick way to filter the whole dataset.

A dimension is a group of data, and an entity is a value within a dimension. For example, a dimension is Country, and the entities are Australia, the UK, and the USA. The available dimensions depend on the underlying database. They are displayed in a list on the left of the grid. For example:

• In a Sales database, you might have dimensions such as Customers, Products, Sales Reps, Regions, Vendors, and so on.

• In an Inventory database, you might have dimensions such as Supplier, Warehouse, Country, and so on.

Some dimensions have a subset of dimensions grouped underneath them. For example, the Product Class and Product Group might be subsets of the Product dimension.

Watch this Phocas Academy video: Combine inventory and sales to find dead stock (filter by dimension and condition)

Apply a filter

Click a dimension to filter the data in the grid and see a list of the entities in that dimension. The dimension button turns blue to identify it as the currently selected dimension.

For example, suppose you are viewing your Sales database and want to look closer at your customers to see which customers generate the most sales revenue. When you click the Customer dimension, a list of customers displays in the grid.

When you filter the data by a dimension (and condition), the grid updates and looks and behaves differently from the Summary view. The key characteristics are as follows:

1. The selected dimension is displayed in blue.

2. Properties (dimension metadata, such as Name and Code) display as columns. If the data in the Code column is blue, it indicates a link is available. You can select other properties to display or create your own custom property via the Properties menu.

3. Measures (data values relating to dimensions) are displayed as columns, for example, the Total Revenue or Current column. By default, the data is sorted by the first measure column in ascending order. You can then sort the data in other ways. You can change the measures and their format via the Measures menu.

4. Period columns display the related data for the selected period.

5. Cells that do not contain data are shaded blue.

6. Negative figures are displayed in red.

• After you filter by one dimension and focus on some data, you can filter by another. You can repeat this action to filter by multiple dimensions and drill down further into your data.

• See Work with the grid to learn how to sort data, freeze properties, view the record count, and more.

Remove a filter

The process to remove a filter depends on the action you have taken:

• If you filter by one dimension and want to filter by another, as long as you haven't selected anything in the grid, you can click the other dimension. You can quickly switch between dimensions, and the grid updates accordingly.

• If you filter by a dimension and select rows in the grid, then select another dimension, a filter is applied to the first dimension, and the number of selected rows is displayed on that dimension button. Click the X on the dimension button to remove the first filter.

To completely reset the data, click the Reset button.