How to Create a Reset Filter Button in Tableau

A well-designed Tableau dashboard makes complex data easy to understand, but as users start clicking through different filters, that clarity can quickly turn into a confusing mess. The solution is simpler than you think: a single "Reset Filters" button that clears all selections and returns the dashboard to its original state. In this tutorial, we'll walk through exactly how to build one step-by-step.

Why a Reset Button is a Game Changer for Your Dashboards

Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." Adding a reset button isn't just a minor tweak, it fundamentally improves the user experience of your Tableau dashboard.

• It Encourages Exploration: When users know they have a one-click escape hatch, they're much more likely to freely explore the data. They can slice, dice, and filter to their heart's content without the fear of getting lost or "breaking" the view.
• It Reduces Frustration: Imagine your stakeholders have applied five different filters and can no longer remember which ones are active. Instead of forcing them to manually uncheck every box or revert the workbook, a reset button provides immediate relief.
• It Creates a Professional and Polished Feel: Little details like a reset button signal that you've thought carefully about how people will interact with your work. It's a hallmark of a professional, user-friendly design.

The Core Concept: A Blank Worksheet and a Dashboard Action

The magic behind the reset button lies in a clever use of Tableau's features. We aren't really creating a "button" in the traditional sense. Instead, we are creating a dedicated, simple worksheet that just looks like a button. Then, we use a Dashboard Action to tell Tableau what to do when someone clicks on that worksheet.

The action filter works by passing a value from our "button" worksheet to the other charts on our dashboard. We will intentionally set up this action to fail - to pass a value that doesn't match anything in our data. When the user "deselects" the button, the action triggers its cleanup instruction, which we will set to "Show all values," effectively resetting every filter.

Let's build it together.

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating a Reset Filter Button in Tableau

For this example, imagine you have a sales dashboard with a few charts (e.g., Sales by Region, Sales by Category) and several filters (e.g., Year, Region, Product Category).

Step 1: Create the "Reset" Worksheet

First, we need to create the worksheet that will serve as our clickable button.

1. Open a new worksheet in your Tableau workbook and name it "Reset Button."
2. Create a new calculated field. Go to Analysis > Create Calculated Field. Name it Button Label and enter the following simple formula:

"Reset Filters"

1. Create a second calculated field. This one is a simple placeholder that we'll use in our dashboard action later. Name it Reset Field and enter:

"reset"

(You can also use a number like 1 instead of a string. It doesn't matter, as long as it's a static value.)

1. Now, build the visual for the button:

(Visual description, no need to output images)

1. Finally, right-click in an empty area of the worksheet and select Format. Turn off all grid lines, zero lines, and borders under the Borders and Lines menus to make the button look clean. Hide the worksheet title as well.

Step 2: Add Everything to Your Dashboard

Now it's time to assemble your dashboard. Drag your main charts (Sales by Region, etc.) and your new "Reset Button" worksheet onto the dashboard canvas.

Pro-Tip: It's often easiest to add the button as a floating object. This gives you precise control over its placement, like in the top-right corner, without disrupting your existing layout containers.

Step 3: Configure the Dashboard Filter Action

This is where the magic happens. We'll set up a dashboard action that targets all our charts and tells them to reset when we click our button.

1. From the top menu, navigate to Dashboard > Actions...
2. In the Actions dialog box, click the Add Action button and select Filter...
3. Now, we configure the filter action with five key settings. Take your time with this part, as every setting is important.

1. Name

First, give your action a descriptive name, like "Dashboard Reset Action."

2. Source Sheets

This tells Tableau which sheet triggers the action. In the "Source Sheets" section, uncheck every sheet except for your "Reset Button" worksheet.

3. Run Action on

Choose Select. This means the action will fire when a user clicks (selects) the button.

4. Target Sheets

This tells Tableau which sheets should be affected by the action. Check all the data worksheets on your dashboard (e.g., "Sales by Region," "Sales by Category"). Do not check the "Reset Button" sheet.

5. Clearing the selection will:

Set this option to Show all values. This is the most crucial part. When the user "deselects" the button by clicking it a second time (or clicking off of it), this tells the target sheets to remove the effect of the filter, reverting them to their original state.

6. Target Filters

Finally, we need to choose which fields to filter. Select the Selected Fields option.

Now, click the Add Filter... button at the bottom.

• For the Source Field, choose the Reset Field we created earlier on your "Reset Button" sheet.
• This next part is the key: for the Target Field, you need to select a field from your main data source that will never contain the value "reset". You can pick any field you know won't match, like Order ID or Customer Name.
• The absolute best practice is to create a new dedicated calculated field in your main data source for this purpose. Call it Reset Dummy with the calculation "dummy". Now, back in the action setup, you are linking your source Reset Field ("reset") to your target Reset Dummy ("dummy").

Since the value "reset" will never equal "dummy," this filter effectively does nothing when you click the button. But when you click away, the "Clearing the selection" setting kicks in and resets everything!

Step 4: Test Your New Button

Let's try it out!

1. Go back to your dashboard.
2. Apply a few filters. Click on a bar in one chart, a region in another, and select a year from your filter controls. Your dashboard view should now be heavily filtered.
3. Now, click your "Reset Filters" button once. You’ll see the border around your button worksheet become selected. Because our action filter link was designed to fail (e.g., "reset" != "dummy"), nothing on your dashboard will change.
4. Click the button a second time to deselect it. Boom! Every filter clears, and all of your charts return to their original, unfiltered state. The second click triggers the "Show all values" clearing option we configured.

Final Thoughts

Creating a reset button is a classic Tableau trick that transforms a good dashboard into a great one. By building a dedicated "button" worksheet and linking it to a clever dashboard action, you provide users with an intuitive way to start their analysis over, improving usability and encouraging deeper exploration.

Building interactive reports can be complex, involving lots of small steps and technical configurations. We built Graphed because we believe getting answers from your data shouldn't require you to become an expert in a specific BI tool. Instead of manually creating calculated fields and configuring multi-step actions, you can create real-time dashboards by simply describing what you need in plain English. Graphed connects to your marketing and sales data sources and automates the entire reporting process, letting you get insights in seconds, not hours.