When considering the capabilities that D365 F&O has to offer, it can be overwhelming. However, with most users likely interacting only with specific feature and process areas with the application stack, how can you enable users to quickly and easily access the information they need during their BAU activities. Step into the spotlight; Filtering and sorting.

Filtering options

Filter Pane

A screenshot of the Suppliers form in D365 F&O with the filter pane action

This is accessed by selecting the filter icon, the filter pane is an inline sliding section that allows users to add multiple filter criteria which will be applied to the table content being viewed.

QuickFilter

A screenshot of the Suppliers form in D365 F&O with the Quickfilter option selected

A dynamic filtering framework that provides the ability to quickly filter on a single column. Dynamic in its nature as the columns available to filter on in this view are reflective of the columns visible in the form and therefore reflects columns added, hidden, etc as part of user personalisations (which we’ll cover in detail in future content).

Grid Column Filtering

A screenshot of the Suppliers form in D365 F&O with the Grid Column filter selected

This provides users with the ability to apply filter and sorting criteria to column headers within the grid presented. Unlike the Quickfilter feature, users can apply search and filtering criteria to multiple column headers in an incremental manner.

Advanced filter or sort

A screenshot of the Suppliers form in D365 F&O with the advanced filter or sort option highlighted

Not many users realise, but this feature has been carried forward from AX2012 days. It allows for more complex filter queries to be specified, included the creation of table joins with related data tables to provide for niche data outputs. We’ll cover off the advanced filter and sorting in its own post soon.

Common Filter expressions

Before we go into how to use each of the filter options above it is worth covering off the common filter expressions that can be used when filtering. As a default, data entered into the filters will be treated with the MATCHES expression unless one of the following expressions is applied:

QuerySyntax
Records that are exactly AX7“AX7”
Records that do not contain SAP“!SAP”
Records that are either AX7, D365 or ERP.“AX7,D365,ERP
Contains AX7“*AX7*”
Does not contain “SAP”“!*SAP*”
Begins with “AX7”“AX7*”
After “AX7” / Greater than “AX7”“>AX&”
Greater than or equal “AX7”“AX7..”
Before “AX7” / Less than “AX7”“<AX7”
Less than or equal “AX7”“..AX7”
Between “AX7” and “D365”“AX7..D365”

Filtering in action

Filter Pane

Arguably the most user friendly filtering option available, the filter pane provides intuitive interface that allows for the target filter source to be specified and a descriptive condition to be selected for each filter criteria.

A screenshot of the D365 Released Products form with the filter pane active

In the above example multiple filters have been applied to return only released products with an Item number that begins with ‘C’ and a search name that begins with ‘M’. Additional filters can be applied to further refine filtering, when dealing with large sets of data.

The filter pane options include not only the data items in the target data set (released products in the above example), but also expands to allow for the inclusion of data from direct table joins e.g. data from the item and category tables can be incorporated into the filter pane for released products.

Quickfilter

The Quickfilter capability is available on grids throughout D365 F&O. Its capabilities are enabled upon the entry of data. In the following example, a quick entry of the characters ‘Micr’ in the Released products form enables the following options:

A screenshot of the D365 Released products form with the Quickfilter partly populated

In all filtering instances the MATCHES operator applies as default so in the above instance, the filter will return records starting with “Micro” only for the column selected.

Note – the columns listed are filterable columns only. If you find that one or more columns are not listed in the Quickfilter then it is most likley due to the fact that filtering on that data is not possible. This is most common for columns calculated via code. A check of this can be performed on the column itself by checking whether it can be selected for filtering.

Grid Column Filtering

To provide a more seamless user experience, many features within D365 F&O mimic that of the broader M365 stack. When it comes to grid column filtering, users are presented with a similar experience to that which they would encounter in Excel:

A screenshot of the Released products form in D365 F&O with the grid column filter selected

For those eagle-eyed readers, you’ll notice that the filtering options provided in this case mimic those that are available in the filter pane and this is 100% correct. The only variation here is that you also have the option to sort the column data.

As referred to previously, more complex and advanced filtering options will be explored in a future post. The perception of simplicity when it comes to the filtering options above by mean in no terms that they are basic. Providing a simple, intuitive structure allows users to more readily self serve their data query needs and, coupled together with personalisations (coming soon 😊), can enable the creation of proactive prompts to increase productivity and efficiency.

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