Controls make your workbooks interactive by letting viewers filter and adjust what they see without needing edit access. This guide walks you through creating a control, configuring where it gets its options from, setting default values, and customising its appearance.
To create and configure controls, your Altruistiq role must include either the Create and edit workbooks or Full explore permission.
Creating a control
To add a control to your workbook:
Open the workbook in Edit mode.
In the left sidebar, click Add element.
Select Controls.
Choose the control type you want to add (for example, List values, Date range, or Segmented control).
The new control appears on the page.
Once you've added a control, you need to configure it to make it useful. Select the control to open the Editor panel, where you'll find the Properties tab with configuration options.
Tip: You can also create a control by converting an existing filter. This is often faster because the control automatically targets the table or chart you filtered. Hover over your table or chart, click the Filters icon, then for the filter you want to convert, click More (⋮) and select Convert to page control.
Configuring the value source
The value source tells the control where to get the options it displays to viewers. Think of it as answering the question: "What choices should appear in this control?"
For example, if you're creating a dropdown to filter by reporting year, the value source determines which years appear in that dropdown. Without a value source, the control has no options to offer.
There are two ways to set up a value source:
Use a column from your data
This is the most common approach. The control automatically pulls all unique values from a column in your data and displays them as options.
Select the control.
In the Editor panel, click the Settings tab.
For Value source, select a data source or table from your workbook.
For Source column, choose the column containing the values you want to display.
Example: To let viewers filter emissions data by scope, you would:
Set Value source to your emissions table
Set Source column to the "Scope" column
The control then displays Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 as options (or whatever values exist in that column).
Create a manual list
Use a manual list when you want to specify exact values yourself, rather than pulling them from your data. This is useful when:
You need a consistent set of options that won't change if your data changes
You want display labels that differ from the actual data values
Your data uses codes or abbreviations that need friendlier names
To create a manual list:
Select the control.
In the Editor panel, click the Settings tab.
For Value source, select Create manual list.
For Value type, choose the data type that matches your target column (Text, Number, Date, or Boolean).
Under Values, enter each option and press Enter to add it.
You can optionally add a display value for each item. The display value is what viewers see, while the data value is what's actually used for filtering.
Example: Your data stores quarters as "Q1_2024", "Q2_2024", etc., but you want viewers to see cleaner labels:
Data value: "Q1_2024" → Display value: "Q1 2024"
Data value: "Q2_2024" → Display value: "Q2 2024"
Setting default values
To set a default value:
Select the control.
Make a selection in the control (for example, choose "2024" from a year list).
The selected value becomes the default for anyone viewing the published workbook.
Before publishing, review each control's default value. Consider what most viewers will want to see first—for instance, you might default a date range control to the current quarter or a region control to "All regions".
Customising control appearance
You can adjust how your control looks using the Format tab in the Editor panel.
Control title
The control title appears above the control and tells viewers what it filters. By default, it matches the column name, but you can change it to something more descriptive:
Select the control.
In the Editor panel, click the Format tab.
Under Title, enter a custom label.
For example, change "Scope" to "Emission scope" to make it clearer what viewers are filtering.
Size and position
Drag the control to reposition it on the page. Resize it by dragging the edges. Controls work well placed above the tables or charts they filter, making it obvious what they affect.
Additional formatting options
Depending on the control type, you may have additional options in the Format tab:
Background colour
Border settings
Text alignment
Font size
Control-specific settings
Different control types have settings tailored to how they work. Here are the key options for common control types:
List values control
Setting | Description |
Allow multi-select | When enabled, viewers can choose multiple values at once. Disable for single selection only. |
Show search | Displays a search box for lists with many options. |
Show clear option | Adds an option to clear all selections. |
Segmented control
Setting | Description |
Number of segments | Controls display between 1 and 7 segments. If your data has more values, only the first 7 appear. |
Show clear option | Adds a "None" option to deselect all segments. |
Date and date range controls
Setting | Description |
Relative dates | Enable options like "Last 30 days" or "This quarter" alongside fixed dates. |
Date format | Choose how dates display (for example, DD/MM/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD). |
Slider and range slider controls
Setting | Description |
Minimum and Maximum | Set the bounds of the slider range. |
Step size | Define the increment between values (for example, steps of 5 or 10). |
Required controls
For any control type, you can make it required:
Select the control.
In the Editor panel, click the Settings tab.
Enable Required.
When a control is required, all tables and charts on the same page show no data until the viewer makes a selection. This is useful when you want to ensure viewers actively choose what to analyse rather than seeing everything at once.
Changing the control type
If you've added a control but realise you need a different type, you can change it without starting over:
Select the control.
In the Editor panel, on the Properties tab, find Control type.
Select a different control type from the dropdown.
The control updates to the new type. Some settings may reset depending on the types involved, but the control ID and basic formatting remain the same.
What to read next
For an overview of all available control types and when to use each one, see Control types reference.