Filter shelf vs filter card in Tableau - Formula Comparison Trace

Sample Data

Sample sales data by region used to demonstrate filtering in Tableau.

Cell	Value
A1	Region
A2	East
A3	West
A4	South
A5	North
B1	Sales
B2	1000
B3	1500
B4	1200
B5	1300

Formula Trace

FILTER shelf applied: Region = 'East' or 'West'; FILTER card applied: Sales > 1200

Step 1: Apply FILTER shelf: Region IN ('East', 'West')

Step 2: Apply FILTER card: Sales > 1200 on filtered data

Step 3: Final data shown: Region = West, Sales = 1500

Cell Reference Map

    A       B
1 |Region | Sales
2 | East  | 1000
3 | West  | 1500
4 | South | 1200
5 | North | 1300

FILTER shelf references A2:A5 (Region)
FILTER card references B2:B5 (Sales)

FILTER shelf uses Region column (A2:A5) to limit data to East and West. FILTER card uses Sales column (B2:B5) to filter sales greater than 1200.

Result

    A       B
1 |Region | Sales
2 | West  | 1500

Final visualization shows only the West region with sales of 1500 after applying both filters.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the FILTER shelf do in Tableau?

A Changes the color of marks

B Limits the data source before visualization

C Adds labels to the chart

D Sorts the data alphabetically

Key Result

FILTER shelf limits data source first; FILTER card filters data after shelf filtering.