How to Add Filter to Container in Tableau

A cluttered Tableau dashboard is a dashboard nobody wants to use. While filters are essential for allowing users to slice and dice data, they can quickly turn a clean design into a chaotic mess floating randomly on the canvas. This article will show you how to use one of Tableau’s most powerful organizational features - layout containers - to neatly group your filters, save precious screen space, and create a far more professional and intuitive user experience.

Why Group Filters in a Container?

Dumping filters directly onto a dashboard might seem quick and easy at first. But as your dashboards grow in complexity, this approach creates several problems. Placing your filters inside a dedicated container is a simple habit that instantly upgrades your dashboard design for a few key reasons:

• Organized Layout: Containers force your filters into a structured alignment, either vertically or horizontally. This eliminates the frantic dragging and resizing needed to make free-floating filters line up perfectly.
• Improved User Experience: A clean, predictable layout helps users navigate your dashboard more easily. Grouping an entire panel of filters on one side (e.g., in a right-hand sidebar) is a standard design pattern that users instinctively understand.
• Space Efficiency: The real magic happens when you make your container collapsible. You can tuck away an entire panel of filters behind a single click, freeing up the majority of your dashboard for data visualizations. Users can show the filters when they need them and hide them when they don't.
• Easy Maintenance: When all your filters are in one container, modifying them is much simpler. You can apply formatting like borders or background shading to the entire container at once instead of editing each filter individually.

Think of a sales analysis dashboard. Without a container, the filters for 'Region', 'Product Category', 'Sales Rep', and 'Order Date' might be scattered around, each taking up valuable real estate. With a container, they become a single, tidy "Control Panel" object that you can manage as one unit.

Understanding Horizontal vs. Vertical Containers

Before we start adding filters, it's important to understand the two types of containers available in the Dashboard pane under Objects:

Vertical Container: This object stacks items on top of one another in a single column. Anything you add to a vertical container will be placed above or below the items already inside it. Think of it like a bookshelf where you stack books vertically.

Horizontal Container: This object arranges items side-by-side in a single row. Adding new items will place them to the left or right side of existing items. Think of a row of pictures hanging on a wall.

For grouping filters into a control panel or sidebar, a Vertical Container is almost always the best choice, as it allows you to neatly stack multiple filters one above the other.

Step-by-Step: Adding Filters to a Vertical Container

Let's walk through the process of building a clean filter panel. We'll assume you have a dashboard with one or more worksheets already on it.

Step 1: Drag a Vertical Container onto a Tiled Dashboard

First, make sure your dashboard layout is set to Tiled instead of Floating in the bottom-left corner. Tiled layouts make it much easier to position containers. Grab a Vertical container from the Objects list and drag it onto your dashboard canvas. As you drag it, Tableau will show you a gray shaded area indicating where it will land. A common practice is to place it along the right or left edge to create a sidebar.

Step 2: Add Your Worksheets to the Dashboard

Next, drag your worksheets (your charts and graphs) onto the main part of the canvas, next to the container you just added. Do not drag them inside the container. You should see your dashboard divided into two sections: the large area for your vizzes and the narrow, empty vertical container you will use for your filters.

Step 3: Show the Filters for Your Worksheets

Now it's time to bring the filters into view. They don't appear by default. Click on one of the worksheets on your dashboard to select it. Then, click the small dropdown arrow (the caret) in its top right corner and navigate to Filters. You will see a list of the filters used in that specific worksheet. Click on each one you want to show on the dashboard.

As you select them, Tableau will add them as floating objects, probably placing them somewhere over your visualizations. Don't worry about their messy placement for now.

Step 4: Move the Filters into the Container

This is the most important step. We need to move the floating filters into the vertical container. Click on the grab handle (the grid icon) at the top of a filter and drag it. As you hover your cursor over the empty vertical container, you'll see a dark blue border appear around it - this is Tableau's signal that you are about to drop the object inside the container.

Release the mouse button. The filter will snap into place. Now, grab your next filter and drag it into the same container. As you drag, watch for the gray shading to see where it will land. You can place it above or below the filter already in the container. Repeat this process until all your filters are neatly stacked inside the vertical container.

Step 5: Clean Up and Format the Container

With all your filters inside, you can manage them as a group.

• Distribute Evenly: Click the dropdown arrow on the vertical container itself and select "Distribute Contents Evenly." This will automatically make each filter the same height - a great way to create a clean look.
• Add a Border or Background: In the Layout pane, you can select the container and add a border or change the background color to visually separate your filter panel from your charts.
• Adjust Filter Types: Use the dropdown on each filter to change its display style (e.g., Multiple Values List, Single Value Dropdown, etc.) to best suit your needs. Dropdowns are especially good for saving space.

Pro Tip: Create a Collapsible Filter Menu

Organizing filters in a container is great, but hiding them on demand is even better. Tableau makes it incredibly simple to create an expandable "hamburger" menu for your filter panel.

1. Create a "Floating" Container for Your Filters

This trick works best with a floating container so it can overlay your dashboard. Start by grabbing a Vertical container, but this time, hold the Shift key while dragging it onto the canvas. This will make it a floating object. Go through the steps above to move all your desired filters into this new floating container.

Position this floating container off to the side, perhaps just peeking out from the edge of the dashboard.

2. Add a Show/Hide Button

Select the floating container so that a grey border appears around it. Click its dropdown menu and select Add Show/Hide Button.

Instantly, Tableau adds a floating "x" button to your dashboard. This button is now linked directly to the visibility of your filter container.

3. Customize the Button

Don't stop there! You can customize this button to look much more professional.

• Double-click the button or use its dropdown menu and select Edit Button....
• In the dialog box, you have options to customize the button for two states: when the Item is Shown and when the Item is Hidden.
• Instead of the default 'X', you can use custom images. A common pattern is to use a hamburger menu icon (☰) for the "Item Hidden" state and an 'X' icon for the "Item Shown" state.
• Be sure to add a helpful tooltip, like "Show filters" or "Hide filters," to guide your users.

4. Test it!

To test your new button while in Tableau Desktop, hold the Alt key (or Option on a Mac) and click it. You'll see your filter panel slide in and out of view. In Presentation Mode or on Tableau Server, a simple click is all it takes.

Common Issues and Quick Fixes

• "My filter went next to the container, not inside it." This happens when you don't drop the object precisely over the container. The key is to wait for the thick blue border to highlight the container itself before releasing the mouse. If you make a mistake, you can always check the Layout hierarchy pane to see where your object landed and drag it into the correct place.
• "The filters in my container aren't the same size." Select the container, use its dropdown caret, and click "Distribute Contents Evenly." This will instantly fix uneven spacing for all items inside.
• "My filter only affects one of my charts!" This isn't a container issue, but a very common filter problem. The fix is easy. Click the dropdown on the filter card and go to Apply to Worksheets > Selected Worksheets.... From there, you can check all the other worksheets on your dashboard that you want this filter to control.

Final Thoughts

Mastering layout containers is a fundamental step toward building dashboards in Tableau that are not only powerful but also clean and intuitive. By grouping your interactive elements into dedicated vertical containers, you establish a clear structure that guides your users. Additionally, by adding a show/hide button, you can offer them immense analytical capability without overwhelming them upfront.

Ultimately, the goal is to get to insights faster without spending hours wrestling with dashboard setups and alignments. At our company, we built an AI data analyst to remove all of this manual friction. Trying to build the perfect report in Tableau often requires more time fighting with the tool than thinking about the data. Tools like Graphed dramatically simplify this process by connecting directly to your data sources and allowing you to describe dashboards—in plain English—including filters and all. This enables you to skip the weeks it takes to become a BI expert and go directly from data to decision in seconds.