Overview of Report Filters

You add filters to a report to limit the data the report returns.

If filters were not used, a report that included information from a table would return all the records in that table every time you run the report. Some filters set hard limits on what the report can return, and other filters can be selected when you run the report so you can look at different records. Filters also help improve report performance by preventing the report from examining data you do not want included in the report.

You can restrict the data returned in a report using the following filters.

• Report fixed filters—Fixed filters restrict the data the report can access. Fixed filters cannot be changed or edited when the report is run. See Create a Fixed or Runtime Selectable Filter.
• Report runtime selectable filters—Runtime filter values can be changed from their default values when running a report. This lets you run the report to view data about records that share the values selected in the filter and then immediately run the report again with different values selected in the filter. See Create a Fixed or Runtime Selectable Filter.
• Level filters—Level filters are fixed or runtime selectable filters that limit data at the individual output levels. Level filters can restrict data from appearing in one level, while allowing it to be returned in other levels in the same report. See Create a Level Filter.
• Group filters—Group filters are applied to an output level’s grouped data to filter out certain groups from displaying in the report level’s output. See Create a Group Filter.
• Join filters—Join filters restrict data returned in the secondary table of outer table joins. See How to Create Join Filters.

Tip: Each report can have up to 100 report filters and each output level in a report can have 100 level filters and one hundred group filters.