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Hidden sticky filters and parameters are used to remember the filter/parameter values a user selects across the system, without showing up in the filters list on a Dashboard. You can blacklist sheets for the Hidden Filter to not apply to. The name should match the sheets’ name in Tableau. You can also blacklist entire Dashboards by using the Dashboard name instead of individual sheet names. This is useful when you have a Dashboard with many sheets and want to exclude all of them from a filter without having to list each sheet individually, or when you want to prevent filters from applying to any part of a specific Dashboard.

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To create a hidden sticky filter/parameter

  1. Navigate to the backend of the system (e.g. http://curatorexample.com/backend).
  2. Log in if prompted.
  3. Click on Settings > Tableau > Tableau Server Settings in the left-hand menu.
  4. Click the “General” tab at the top.
  5. Expand the “Sticky Filters” section and toggle on “Use Hidden Sticky Filters”.
  6. Click to add a new item under hidden sticky filters or hidden sticky parameters section.
  7. Enter the name of the filter/parameter.
  8. Click the “Save” button.

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Filter Blacklists

If you have individual sheets or entire Dashboards that a filter should not be applied to, Curator’s Filter Blacklists can help here. Curator provides two types of filter blacklists to control where filters are applied within Tableau Dashboards: filter-specific blacklists and global sheet-specific blacklists. Both types support blacklisting individual sheets by sheet name or entire Dashboards by Dashboard name.

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Filter-Specific Blacklists

A filter-specific blacklist allows you to prevent a specific Curator filter from being applied to selected sheets or entire Dashboards. This requires the Curator filter to be present in the front-end. To configure a filter-specific blacklist:
  1. Navigate to the backend of the system (e.g. http://curatorexample.com/backend).
  2. Log in if prompted.
  3. Click on Tableau > Filter > select the filter that should not be applied to all sheets.
  4. In the Display Options section, add one item to the Sheet Blacklist per sheet or dashboard you want to exclude from the filter. To blacklist an entire dashboard, use the dashboard name as it appears in Tableau. To blacklist an individual sheet, use the sheet name.
If multiple filters need to be excluded from the same set of sheets or dashboards, you can create a reusable Filter Blacklist Group:
  1. Navigate to the backend of the system (e.g. http://curatorexample.com/backen).
  2. Log in if prompted.
  3. Click on Tableau > Filter Blacklists.
  4. Create a new blacklist group.
  5. Name your blacklist group.
  6. Add one item per sheet or dashboard you do not want the filter to be applied to to the Sheet Blacklist. Use the dashboard name to exclude an entire dashboard, or use individual sheet names to exclude specific sheets.
  7. Navigate to your Filter to apply the Filter Blacklist Group. Click on Tableau > Filter > select the filter that should not be applied to all sheets.
  8. In the Display Options section, toggle on Use Filter Blacklist Group.
  9. Select the Filter Blacklist group that you created in steps 3-6.

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Global Filter Sheet Blacklists

If you need to exclude sheets or entire dashboards from a hidden sticky filter, a global filter blacklist must be used. This applies to filters that are not explicitly present in the Curator UI but are set as sticky and therefore influence the Dashboard on load with the last value set applied. Or because Hidden Sticky Filters or Parameters are enabled. To configure a global filter blacklist:
  1. Navigate to the backend of the system (e.g. http://curatorexample.com/backen).
  2. Log in if prompted.
  3. Click on Settings > Tableau > Tableau Server Settings.
  4. Open the Filters and Parameters section.
  5. Add the respective sheets or dashboard names to the Global Filter Sheet Blacklist. To blacklist an entire dashboard, add the dashboard name as it appears in Tableau.
If you using Filter Blacklist is slowing down your Dashboard load performance, there is a workaround within Tableau. Following the below steps is more performant on especially large Dashboards.
  1. In Tableau Desktop (or Tableau Server Edit Mode), go to the sheet that the filter should not be applied on.
  2. Duplicate the data source the filter field(s) comes from.
  3. Replace the existing fields on your sheet with the fields from the duplicated data source.
  4. Rename the filter field, regardless of whether used on your sheet or not. Note: If you are not using the filter field on your sheet, you may as well delete it from your duplicated data source. By renaming/deleting it, you ensure that the filter request will have no effect on this specific sheet.
  5. Repeat for all other fields the sheet should not be filtered by.
  6. Repeat for all sheets that should not listen to the filter(s).
  7. Republish your Dashboard.