Community Knowledge Base

Filter Sets

Site administrators as well as general users can use filter sets to view only the data they want to see in reports. Filter sets are created with a combination of website directories or single pages to limit the report data, allowing users to quickly flip between subsets of data when viewing reports.

Filter sets simply manipulate information that appears in a specific report. They do not affect any logs the way log processing rules do. Therefore, they're a safe way to manipulate report data without editing or otherwise changing the raw logs or the SmarterLogs.

Note: Filter sets can not be applied to all reports. For example, Trend Reports, even if the Filter Set is marked as a default filter. This is because Trend Reports don't offer the same display of data as Summary Reports. To exclude data from Trend Reports, it's best to create a secondary site and apply Log Processing Rules to that sub-site. In addition, Filter Sets can't be used on any report where the primary report column (the far left column) does not contain a list of pages, files, directories, browsers, etc. Finally, if the report content doesn't (or can't) contain any values that might match a Filter Set, then Filter Sets are not usable on that report. This is true for any report that does not contain text as the far left report column. If it contains number values or dates, no Filter Set can be used. For example, the Return Visits report, Views Before Visit, etc. as the far left column on these reports contain only a count of report item or a date.

For example, suppose your company sells furniture. In the reports you want to view the data associated with all bedroom furniture, except for a specific product ID for a nightstand that is being discontinued. The URL for the bedroom furniture page of the website might be “/furniture/bedroom.aspx”. To narrow down the reports to only bedroom furniture you would enter this directory in the Included Items field. Then, to exclude the discontinued nightstand, enter “/furniture/bedroom/nightstands/ elegant_collection/detail.aspx?prodid=3” into the Excluded Items field.

To access this section, click the Settings icon. Then click Filter Sets in the navigation pane. A list of the existing filter sets will load in the content pane if any have already been created.

Adding a Filter Set

To create a new filter set, click New in the content pane toolbar. The following options will be available:

  • Filter Name - The name of the filter set.
  • Included Items (one per line) - Type the items you want added to the filter, one per line. Any text field in reports that contain any item in this list will be kept in the report and its values will remain in the summary line. Note: Filters are NOT case-sensitive .
  • Excluded Items (one per line) - Type the items you want excluded from the filter, one per line. Any text field in reports that contain any item in this list will be excluded from the report and its values will be removed from the summary line. Note: Filters are NOT case-sensitive.
  • Mark as default filter set - Check this box to automatically apply this filter set to reports upon loading. Note: If left unchecked, you will need to manually apply the filter to each report and click Generate Report to view the report with the selected filter.