Filters

FILTERS

All views allow for filtering of values. Filters are global so, once a filter is set in one view, all other views will reflect the results of that action. TimeFlow provides three types of filters that can be combined: search, field filters, and date filters. Filter options are found on the “Filters” menu (see image below).

Filters menu.

Search
– keyword search, user types in a word into the search textfield
– regular expression search typed in the same search field

Field Filters

Textual filters: based on data fields, allows users to filter all data points by a given category. User chooses from a menu of filter options

Numeric: if a data field is numeric, the filter option is presented in numeric mode, showing a bar chart of the distribution of values. Dragging the ends of the bar chart causes the filter to narrow down the values being shown on the screen, or you can also type low and high values directly into the little text boxes. The values that fall outside of the chosen range are not shown.

Date filters: when a data field is comprised of dates, a data filter is presented, which allows users to filter values between a starting and an ending date.

Note: The navigation bar is not a date filter; it only affects what’s visible on the timeline view, but doesn’t filter out values from the table, list, and calendar views.

As a user adds filters to the data, these options are listed in the Filters dashboard of the application. The dashboard gives a detailed view of the options at the user’s disposal and allow for tweaking of values. This is also the place where users can remove specific filters. Removing all filters (including any searches) can be done by clicking on the “clear all” button at the top of the filter dashboard.

Filter dashboard showing details of filters the user has added. Removing individual filters can be done by clicking on the red circles on the right of each filter. To remove all filters, use the “clear all” button at the top of the dashboard.