Configuring Dynamic Filters

Owned by Bogdan Butnaru
Last updated: May 22, 2024 by Praveena Manohar
8 min read

Contents:

About Dynamic Filters

Dynamic Filters allow the users to further filter the issues displayed by the gadgets based on the current rich filter. Dynamic filters are based on Jira fields (built-in or custom) and allow filtering issues by field values. Once configured, the dynamic filters are displayed in Rich Filter Controller gadgets as buttons with drop-down menus (for option/user/label/etc fields), text search boxes (for text-based and number fields), or date search boxes with calendar drop-downs (for date fields). When a dynamic filter is activated in a Rich Filter Controller gadget, all the other gadgets in the same dashboard based on the same rich filter apply the selected criteria (the required JQL is automatically generated).

Dynamic Filter Types

There are four types of dynamic filters, depending on the kind of field they are based on:

  1. Option dynamic filters are used for fields that can take predefined values, such as checkboxes, select lists (single or multi-select), status, priority, labels, user pickers, etc. Controller gadgets display these as buttons with drop-down menus, which allow selecting among the options available for each field. 
    When activated, dynamic filters limit the results to only those issues that match the selected options. If multiple options are selected, the filters will pass issues with any of the selected values. (In JQL syntax, the selected options are ORed together, then the result is ANDed with the other JQL parts)

The options available are chosen only based on issues returned by the base Jira filter. It doesn’t show options defined by the field configurations and does not occur among your issues, increasing the relevance of the filter. For example, it would be very useful if you added a dynamic filter for the Assignee field. The drop-down menu displays only users who have at least one issue assigned. Also, the controller displays a search box for each option dynamic filter so the user can easily find the options he is looking for. The user can easily select/deselect the options one by one or a range of options using SHIFT + click. These combined mechanisms are particularly useful for fields with many options.

  1. Text dynamic filters are used for string and text fields, such as the issue summary and description. Text filters don’t use a menu; they just display a text box. The required JQL is automatically generated to filter only issues that contain the entered text.

Jira has two text searchers, one for exact string search and one for full-text search. Dynamic filters will use one or the other, depending on how your field is configured. Advanced search features such as prefix and wildcard queries are supported. See Jira’s documentation for the syntax.

Besides issue fields, there are two extra text dynamic filters that you can add to your rich filters: one is labeled Contains Text and allows searching the summary, environment, description, and comments of an issue, as well as all custom text fields. The other field is labeled Comments, which searches exactly what the name suggests.

  1. Number dynamic filters are used for number fields, such as Story Points or Business Value fields, and searches based on the number of votes or watchers. These filters also display a text box where the user can type multiple values or ranges for the search. Several search options are supported:

    1. Search by value: the user can insert one or several space-separated values to search for – e.g., “1 2 3” for issues having the values 1, 2, and 3;

    2. Search values greater or lower than a given value: the operators '<', '>', '<=', and '>=' are accepted – e.g., “>=1” for issues having the values greater or equal to 1;

    3. Search for intervals: the form “a:b” can be used to search values between a and b included – e.g., “1:10” for values between 1 and 10;

    4. Search for issues with the value empty or not empty: The user can type 'empty' to see issues with the field empty or '!empty' for issues with the field not empty.

    Several options can be used simultaneously; they just need to be space-separated, and the options are OR-ed – e.g., “1 2 <0 4:8” returns the values 1 or 2 or the values inferior to 0 or in the range 4–8. 

  2. Date dynamic filters are used for date/time fields, such as created, updated, resolution date, and custom date fields. Date filters allow users to filter only issues with date field values on, before, after, or between two dates.
    Each dynamic filter has two date inputs – Since and Until:

    1. If Since is filled, then only issues having values on or after the inserted value are displayed;

    2. If Until is filled, then only issues having values on or before the inserted value are displayed;

    3. If both Since and Until are filled, then only issues having values between Since and Until (inclusive) are displayed.

    The inputs Since/Until can be picked from a calendar or entered manually as an absolute date (“yyyy/MM/dd” or “yyyy-MM-dd”) or time relative to the present (e.g., “5d” or “4w 2d”).


    If you need to search for issues on a single date, enter that date in both Since and Until simultaneously. To insert 'now' in Since/Until, one option is to use the value '0d'.

Rich Filter Extensions

Rich filter extensions are separate Jira apps installed on top of the Rich Filters for Jira Dashboards app to extend the rich filters and rich filter gadgets with new specific functionality.

New dynamic filter options are available if you add any of these extensions:

Adding & Editing Dynamic Filters

You can add new and see existing dynamic filters and their configuration in the Dynamic Filters section of your rich filter.

The Dynamic Filters section of your rich filter allows you to do the following operations:

To do the following:

Do this:

To do the following:

Do this:

Add a Dynamic Filter

Click the Pick a field... button at the bottom of the page. A drop-down menu shows all supported fields. Either scroll down or use the search to find the field you want, then click on the “plus” icon on the right or press Enter to add your new dynamic filter.

Delete a Dynamic Filter

Click the Delete icon at the right of the dynamic filter.

Reorder the Dynamic Filters

Hover over the vertical “grid” icon, then drag and drop the dynamic filter up or down to its new position.

Change the options order of a Dynamic Filter.

This applies only to option dynamic filters (checkboxes, select lists (single or multi-select fields), status, priority, labels, user pickers, etc.).

Hover over the dynamic filter and click on the Edit icon.

You can choose between Alphabetical and Natural (the order of the options defined by Jira administrators) for single-select or multiple-select custom fields.

The same menu allows you to invert the order of the options.

For all the other option fields, the system default order is used, but you can choose to invert the order of the options.

Supported fields & compatibility with third-party apps

We support dynamic filters for most of the built-in Jira issue fields and custom fields: Key, Project, Project Category, Summary, Issue Type, Status, Priority, Resolution, Affects and Fix Version(s), Component(s), Labels, Environment, Description, Assignee, Reporter, Due Date, Created, Updated, Resolved, Sprint and Epic Link (for Jira Software), Select List (single/multiple choices and cascading), Checkboxes, Radio Buttons, Labels Custom Field, User Picker (single/multiple users), Group Picker (single/various groups), Project Picker, Text Field (single/multi-line), URL Field, Date Picker and Date Time Picker.

We also support dynamic filters for all custom fields added by third-party apps that use one of Jira's built-in custom field searchers: Single/Multi/Cascading Select Searcher, Labels Searcher, Group Picker Searcher, Project Dropdown Searcher, Exact Text Searcher, Free Text Searcher, Date Range Picker, or Date Time Range Picker.

Moreover, we do our best to support dynamic filters for some custom field searchers added by popular third-party apps. Click here to see the list of third-party apps we support.