# Using Parameter actions in Tableau to filter sheets: Quick Tip

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2021-10-25
- **Format:** Video · 15 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data visualisation
- **Tools:** Tableau (calculated fields, dashboards, filters, lod expressions, parameter actions, parameters)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/using-parameter-actions-in-tableau-to-filter-sheets-quick-tip
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psz7hoK7lu0

I show you how to use parameter actions in Tableau to dynamically change the start date of a chart, then build a reset button that returns the visualisation to the full date range. I walk through the mechanics from scratch, including the parameter, the boolean filter and an LOD calculation.

## Key takeaways

- A parameter action filters a sheet by sending a clicked value into a parameter, but you must have a calculation referencing that parameter sitting in the Filters pane to listen for it
- Use a continuous month on Order Date and a boolean filter checking the date is greater than or equal to the parameter, keeping only the True values
- To build a reset button, use an LOD with no dimensions declared (e.g. MIN([Order Date])) to pull back the smallest date across the whole data set
- This bare LOD runs after context filters but before dimensional filters, so a date filter still returns the full range before being processed
- Place the reset calculation on its own sheet to act as a button, then add a second parameter action passing that minimum date back into the parameter

## Chapters

- 0:00 Demonstrating the date filter and reset
- 0:59 Building the chart and parameter
- 3:11 Creating the boolean date filter
- 5:19 Setting up the parameter action
- 7:24 Building the reset button with an LOD
- 11:24 Wiring the reset action and final tidy-up

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/using-parameter-actions-in-tableau-to-filter-sheets-quick-tip

---
just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena