Tableau Cascading Filters

While analysing the Sample Superstore dataset, I wanted to filter data by multiple related fields. For example, selecting a Region should automatically filter by States, and those States should further filter by Cities.

Initially, I applied filters independently, but it didn’t update the records based on each other’s selection. As a solution, I used Tableau’s cascading filters to filter records in hierarchical order.

In this Tableau tutorial, I’ll explain how to create cascading filters in Tableau using Tableau’s Sample Superstore dataset, with three real-world examples.

What are Cascading Filters in Tableau?

In Tableau, Cascading filters, also known as dependent filters, are filters in which the selection in one filter controls the options in another filter. This filter creates a dependency between filters, so that when a user selects a value in the first filter, only the related or relevant values appear in the subsequent filters.

In Tableau, cascading filters ensure users see only the required data options based on their previous selections.

For example, if you select “West” in the Region filter, the State filter will then show only states from the West region, such as California and Oregon.

Use Cascading Filters in Tableau

In the examples below, we will see the method to add a cascading filter in the Tableau worksheets and filter the records using it.

Now, connect the Tableau with the Superstore dataset and follow the methods below.

Example-1: Filter Records in Geographic Hierarchy Using Cascading Filter

In this example, we will create and use the cascading filter to filter Sales data by Region, then State, then City.

1. To create the view, add Sales to Text and City to Rows.

2. After this, add the Region, State and City to the Filters section and select All Values for the fields and click OK.

3. To add control over the filter values, we need to add them in the view. For this, click on the field dropdown in Filters and select Show filter, and do it for all filters.

With this, you will see the dimension values on the right-hand side of the worksheet. In the filters, even if you select the Central region, it will also show all states that are in the database.

4. To add cascading to the filters, click on the State filter dropdown in the and select Only relevant values and do the same for the City filter.

Now, if we select the Region value as Central, then the States dropdown will show only states from the Central region.

This way, we can create and apply cascading filtering in the Tableau dimension filters.

Example-2: Filter Records in Category Using Cascading Filter

In this example, we will filter order details by Category and Sub-Category.

1. To create the view, add Sales to Rows and Order date to Columns.

2. Add Category and Sub Category as Filters and select All Values.

As of now, when we select the Category filter as Furniture, the Sub-Category dropdown still shows all values.

3. Show both filters, and to add cascading, set the Subcategory to Only Relevant Values.

4. To test the cascading filter, select Category = furniture, then only the sub-category that comes under the Furniture category will appear.

This way, we can apply cascading filters in Tableau to show only relevant values in the filters.

Conclusion

In this Tableau tutorial, we have learned how to create cascading filters in Tableau using the Sample Superstore dataset to add more control over the filters.

In the above examples, we applied a cascading filter for different scenarios by enabling the Show Only Relevant Values option. With this, Tableau allows us to create a cascading or dependent filter relationship where each filter dynamically updates based on the previous selection.

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Bijay Kumar

I am Bijay Kumar, the founder of SalesforceFAQs.com. Having over 10 years of experience working in salesforce technologies for clients across the world (Canada, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, etc.). I am a certified salesforce administrator and expert with experience in developing salesforce applications and projects. My goal is to make it easy for people to learn and use salesforce technologies by providing simple and easy-to-understand solutions. Check out the complete profile on About us.