Mastering Filters in Business Central

Mastering Filters in Business Central

Since now we talk and do the demos only on Dynamics 365 Business Central, I thought to actualize an old post already done, long ago, for Dynamics NAV and related to the use of filters.

Unfortunately, Advanced Filters and Saved Views are still missing: we await them, as planned, in the October update! We’ll see at Directions!

The post will be updated and integrated later when these features will be made available.

Welcome to Filters in Business Central

There are two types of filters available: the first one is using the magnifying glass while the second filter can be applied directly on the column to be filtered.

The filter with the magnifying glass is not as complete as that which can be applied directly on the column.
It is not in fact able to filter all the special symbols.

I recommend using the magnifying glass only if there is a specific date, name or number (not an amount).

How filters work: “Filters IN ACTION”

Example: how to filter an open sales order of a specific customer in a range of dates

Open sales orders, click on the dart and then “Filter”

Enter the customer’s name and press “OK”

Now you see all the customer’s open sales orders

To this filter apply a second filter on the date

Now you only see the sales orders opened in the specific date range

To remove the filters (the filters must be deleted one at a time)

“SPECIAL SYMBOLS”

You can enter all numbers and letters in a filter. It’s also possible to insert some special symbols to further filter the results.

In the following examples the filter will be used directly on the column.

#1  (..) Interval

Example expression

“101005..101010” Records with numbers from 101005 to 101010 are displayed

“..101009” Records are displayed up to and including 101009

#2  (|) Or

Example expression

“101005|101008” Records with numbers 101005 or 101008 are displayed

#3  (<>) Different from

Example expression

“<> 101010” All records are displayed except those with the number 101010

#4  (>) More than

Example expression

“>101009” Records greater than 101009 are displayed

#5  (>=) Greater than or equal to

Example expression

“>= 101009” All records greater than and equal to 101009 are displayed

#6  (<) Less than

Example expression

“< 101009” All records less than 101009 are displayed

#7  (<=) Less than or equal to

Example expression

“<= 101009” All records less than and equal to 101009 are displayed

In the next examples the magnifying glass filter will be used but also these special characters can be applied directly on the column filter.

#8  (@) Without distinction between upper and lower case

Example expression

@ada* All records starting with ada are displayed without distinction between upper and lower case

#9  (*) An indefinite number of unknown characters

Example expression

ou All records containing the text “ou” are displayed

*ou All records ending with “ou” are displayed

#10  (?) An unknown character

Example expression

?ch

Compression format expressions

Example expression

“101005|101010..101012” Includes any record with the number 101005 or with a number between 101010 and 101012

“..101007|101011..” Includes records with a number less than or equal to 101007 or a number equal to 101011 or greater, that is, all numbers except those between 101008 and 101010

Warning: this is a type of filter that can’t be applied with the magnifying glass

“>101007&<101011” Includes records with numbers greater than 101007 and minors 101111

Saved Views and Advanced Filters

..And now we are waiting for.. “Saved Views and Advanced Filters” in Business Central

https://robertostefanettinavblog.com/2018/07/27/bc-saved-views-feature-like-in-dynamics-nav/