How to Use Filters and Slicers in Power BI: Visual, Page and All-Pages Filters and Date Slicers

By Ravindra Bagale Last updated: 19 October 2026

Every report needs a way to narrow the data: one state, one year, one category. Power BI gives you two tools for it. The Filters pane has three levels (one visual, one page, all pages) and is where you set rules. Slicers sit on the canvas, and the people reading the report click them to choose for themselves. In this chapter you use all three filter levels, see what viewers can do with each after publishing, and build a date slicer and a state slicer in the style that suits them.

What you'll learn in this chapter

Filters on this visual, on this page, on all pages
Filters pane vs slicers: who uses which
Hiding and locking filters before publishing
Date slicer: Between, Before, After, Relative date
Text slicer: Vertical list for a few values, Dropdown for many

Practice file: blinkit-sales-2023-2025.csv (1,702 order lines, 01-01-2023 to 31-12-2025).

Made-up data: fictional Blinkit-style sales, for practice only. Amounts are in ₹ and dates are DD-MM-YYYY.

1. The problem

The report has a revenue card, a column chart of revenue by category and a pie chart by state. The manager wants the whole report to show 2025 only, the category page to focus on Maharashtra, and viewers to be able to choose any state and date range on their own.

2. The idea in simple words

The Filters pane has three levels:

Level	Affects
Filters on this visual	Only the selected visual
Filters on this page	Every visual on the current page
Filters on all pages	Every page of the report

A slicer is a visual on the canvas. Viewers click it to filter the page. The Filters pane is published too: viewers can see and change its filters in the Power BI Service unless you hide or lock them. So the rule of thumb is: slicers for choices viewers make, hidden or locked filters for fixed rules.

Classroom line

Power BI has two kinds of filters.

Figure 1. The three Filters pane levels, and slicers for viewers (illustration).

3. The data

blinkit-sales-2023-2025.csv: order_id, order_date, category, city, state, payment, week_type, sales, revenue (₹). Table name sales; measure total revenue = SUM(sales[revenue]).

Year	Revenue (₹)
2023	1,00,708
2024	1,11,253
2025	1,18,882
Total	3,30,843

States: Maharashtra 1,22,142; Karnataka 75,009; Telangana 52,876; Gujarat 41,446; Tamil Nadu 39,370.

4. Step by step

Filters on this page

Build a card (total revenue), a column chart (category, total revenue) and a pie chart (state, total revenue).
Filters pane › drag state into Filters on this page › tick Maharashtra. The card shows 1,22,142, and both charts show Maharashtra only.

Filters on this visual

Select the pie chart. Its own fields appear under Filters on this visual. Untick a category under category (drag it in if needed): only the pie changes.

Filters on all pages

Clear the state filter. Drag order_date into Filters on all pages › Filter type Advanced › is on or after 01-01-2025. Add a new page: it is filtered too. The card shows 1,18,882.

Hide or lock before publishing

On a filter card, click the eye icon to hide it from viewers, or the lock icon so viewers can see it but not change it.

Date slicer

Clear the all-pages filter. Add a Slicer with order_date. It opens as Between: a slider with a start and an end date, plus date-picker boxes.
Format visual › Slicer settings › Options › Style: try Before, After, Relative date and Dropdown. Set Between 01-01-2025 to 31-12-2025: the card shows 1,18,882.
Values text size: 20.

Text slicer

Add a slicer with state. It shows a Vertical list: fine for five states. For a field with many values, set Style Dropdown.

Figure 2. Date slicer styles; Tile would make one button per date (illustration).

Classroom line

What does a slicer do? After publishing, viewers pick any state they want.

5. Your result should look like this

Setting	total revenue
No filter	₹3,30,843
Page filter: Maharashtra	₹1,22,142
All pages: from 01-01-2025	₹1,18,882
Date slicer Between 01-01-2025 and 31-12-2025	₹1,18,882
Date slicer Before 01-01-2024	₹1,00,708

6. What happened

A filter's level decides how far it reaches: one visual, one page or the whole report.
The slicer filters every visual on its page by default, just like a page filter, but it lives on the canvas.
Hidden filters still apply; viewers just can't see them. Locked filters are visible but fixed.

Classroom line

Suppose you are building a report right now...

7. Explore further

Relative date. "Last 1 year", "Last 6 months" or "Next 7 days" count from today. With data that ends on 31-12-2025, "Last 1 year" shows only the latest months, and as time passes it shows nothing; it is meant for data that keeps arriving.
Tile for dates? A tile per date means 365 buttons per year. Keep Tile for short lists.
Slicer on several pages. View › Sync slicers lets one slicer filter several pages.
Filter types. Basic (tick values), Advanced (conditions such as is on or after), Top N (top 3 categories by revenue).
More. The main course lessons The Filters Pane and Its Levels and Slicer vs Filter – When to Use Which go further.

Classroom line

A list slicer should have about 5 to 6 values, not more.

8. Common mistakes

Wrong result	Reason	Fix
Other pages still show all years	Filter put on this page	Use Filters on all pages
Viewers changed a rule you set	Filter left visible and unlocked	Lock or hide it
Relative date shows nothing	Data ends before "today"	Use Between for historical data
Slicer is a long scrolling list	Many values in Vertical list	Style Dropdown
Only one chart changed	Filter put on this visual	Move it to this page

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Before publishing, open the Filters pane and look at each filter card. Ask: should a viewer be able to change this? If not, lock it. If they don't need to know it, hide it.

Classroom line

Go on, try it yourself.

9. Practise on your own

Practice task

Using blinkit-sales-2023-2025.csv:

Put state = Karnataka in Filters on this page. What does the card show?
Add a date slicer and set Before 01-01-2024. What is total revenue?
Keep state = Maharashtra on the page and set the date slicer Between 01-01-2025 and 31-12-2025. What does the card show?
Which slicer style suits the city field (6 values)?

Show solution

₹75,009.
₹1,00,708 (all of 2023).
₹42,283.
A Vertical list or Tile is fine for six values; use Dropdown when the list grows.

10. Think like a professional

Business view. Fixed rules (only 2025, only active stores) belong in locked or hidden filters; choices belong in slicers.
Right level. Put each filter at the narrowest level that does the job.
Check after publishing. Open the report in the Service as a viewer would and look at the Filters pane.
Short lists. Lists of 5–6 values; dropdowns beyond that.

Interview questions

What are the three filter levels? This visual, this page, all pages.
Filter vs slicer? A slicer is an on-canvas visual for viewers; Filters pane filters are set by the developer and can be hidden or locked.
Can viewers see the Filters pane after publishing? Yes, unless it is hidden or the filters are hidden/locked.
When is Relative date useful? For data that keeps updating, such as the last 7 days of orders.