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Interfaces - Field Not Available in Filter Drop Down

  • May 27, 2023
  • 6 replies
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Good morning, I am working on an Interface and I want to add a drop down filter for a specific field in the table I am using. But Airtable is only offering me one field and it is a linked field. Is there a reason that a native short text field is not available to use as a filter? This Interface is of no value if I cannot filter by this field. I do not want my users to have to use the filter button the top right as it requires skills most of them do not have.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Thanks, Scott

Best answer by Stephen_Orr1

Good morning and thanks for replying. I'm sorry but I do not understand what you told me to do. I am new to Airtable and even newer to Interfaces. Do I need to go back t th base and create a view that has this filter? I find the layout confusing and limiting. So where do I start with your idea? I am going to need pretty explicit and simple instructions. Thank you, Scott


No problem! Interfaces are relatively new and continually improving. When you create a new interface, you can choose to start from a template by Airtable or a blank interface. These templates contain elements already populated on the page. At least one of these elements has filter options as you described (for example, the list element). 

Instead of configuring the filter options of an individual element, you can add a filter element and then connect it to other elements to control them. Drag a new "filter" element onto the page, then choose the field you want to filter (text fields work), then connect it to your existing elements. You might also remove the filter button in the list element so that you don't have two filters for the user to click on. Hope that helps!

 

6 replies

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This is because you're attempting to modify the existing element's built-in filter options (which enforces that dropdown filters be predefined dropdowns) rather than adding a separate filter element connected to your element(s). Try adding a filter element on the same page outside of your existing element(s) and configure it to use a text field and "contains" as the filter logic.

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  • Scott_Brasted
  • Author
  • Inspiring
  • May 28, 2023

This is because you're attempting to modify the existing element's built-in filter options (which enforces that dropdown filters be predefined dropdowns) rather than adding a separate filter element connected to your element(s). Try adding a filter element on the same page outside of your existing element(s) and configure it to use a text field and "contains" as the filter logic.


Good morning and thanks for replying. I'm sorry but I do not understand what you told me to do. I am new to Airtable and even newer to Interfaces. Do I need to go back t th base and create a view that has this filter? I find the layout confusing and limiting. So where do I start with your idea? I am going to need pretty explicit and simple instructions. Thank you, Scott

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  • Stephen_Orr1
  • Inspiring
  • Answer
  • May 29, 2023

Good morning and thanks for replying. I'm sorry but I do not understand what you told me to do. I am new to Airtable and even newer to Interfaces. Do I need to go back t th base and create a view that has this filter? I find the layout confusing and limiting. So where do I start with your idea? I am going to need pretty explicit and simple instructions. Thank you, Scott


No problem! Interfaces are relatively new and continually improving. When you create a new interface, you can choose to start from a template by Airtable or a blank interface. These templates contain elements already populated on the page. At least one of these elements has filter options as you described (for example, the list element). 

Instead of configuring the filter options of an individual element, you can add a filter element and then connect it to other elements to control them. Drag a new "filter" element onto the page, then choose the field you want to filter (text fields work), then connect it to your existing elements. You might also remove the filter button in the list element so that you don't have two filters for the user to click on. Hope that helps!

 

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  • Scott_Brasted
  • Author
  • Inspiring
  • May 29, 2023

Thank you.  Ok, so I understand elements. But the pop up only appears when I have a side sheet open. And when I choose filter it will not land anywhere. I click anywhere on the page but it does not attach. And I was trying to get the Interface screen to filter with a drop down filter. The element pop up only appears with the side sheet. What am I missing? Thanks, Scott

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  • Scott_Brasted
  • Author
  • Inspiring
  • May 29, 2023

No problem! Interfaces are relatively new and continually improving. When you create a new interface, you can choose to start from a template by Airtable or a blank interface. These templates contain elements already populated on the page. At least one of these elements has filter options as you described (for example, the list element). 

Instead of configuring the filter options of an individual element, you can add a filter element and then connect it to other elements to control them. Drag a new "filter" element onto the page, then choose the field you want to filter (text fields work), then connect it to your existing elements. You might also remove the filter button in the list element so that you don't have two filters for the user to click on. Hope that helps!

 


Stephen, thank you. Your replies spurred me on to dig deeper. I found that if I created a blank page I could get the Elements pop up at the bottom of the page to appear. I created a list and and filter and it is almost exactly what I want. It is functionally good. 

There are still a bunch of things I do not understand. But it is slowly becoming clear.

I'll add this here in case anyone reading this is experiencing the same problem. If you have a page (in may case a list) that has a concatenated primary key of, in my case first and last names, you can get the sort to be last last name then first make by adding them to the grid then sorting on them and then hiding them. You cannot sort them without them being visible. But it maintains the sort after you hide them. I also had a case where the table that I was using for the page did not have the fields from another table. I added look up fileds for them and then added them to the page, sorted and then hid them.

It would be nice if the developers made it possible to sort on hidden fields.

Best, Scott

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  • Yossi_Goldblatt
  • Participating Frequently
  • April 7, 2024

I have the same issue and would like to know if anyone understands WHICH fields are available to be added as filter dropdown elements in a list view interface. It seems to be a random selection of linked, single select and ONE out of 5 rollups? See screenshot for clarity. Thank you!

FYI - the reason this is important is that the default list view works on android and if you build with elements it is not yet mobile friendly....

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