Slicer

How a slicer works

A slicer is bound to one field, for example Region. When a viewer selects “EMEA”, every visual on the page that uses the same data model re-filters to EMEA. You can also sync slicers across pages, so the selection follows the viewer from page to page.

Common slicer styles:

• Dropdown: compact, good for long lists.
• List / tiles: every option visible, good for 2–6 values.
• Between (range): sliders for dates or numbers.
• Relative date: “last 30 days”, “this quarter”.

What it’s called in each tool

	Power BI	Tableau	Looker Studio	Looker
Name	Slicer	Filter card / quick filter	Control (e.g. drop-down list)	Dashboard filter
Where it lives	On the report canvas	On the dashboard, from a worksheet filter	On the report canvas	Filter bar above the dashboard
Applies to	Visuals on the page (or synced pages)	Worksheets you choose	Charts on the page (or report)	Tiles you choose

Where slicers go on a dashboard

Put slicers either in a row under the page title or in a narrow left-hand rail, and keep that placement the same on every page. Readers learn where the controls are and stop hunting for them.

Best practices

• Limit it to 3–4 slicers per page. More than that usually means the page is trying to answer too many questions.
• Show the current selection. A title like “Revenue — EMEA, Q3” stops people from misreading a filtered view as the total.
• Pick sensible defaults. A date slicer that opens on “all time” makes the first view slow and rarely useful.

Mocking up slicers

Slicers take up canvas space that people often forget about. Add them to the wireframe early so the charts are sized for the space that’s really left.