Multiple quick filters hide too much in the backlog

[Wade Harshman]

I have a Jira board that has multiple quick filters to help me find the right items in the backlog.  Individually, the quick filters work as expected.  If I apply more than one quick filter, they hide items that should be visible.

For example:

• One quick filter hides items with a specific label (labels != ThisLabel). 
• Another is the standard "Recently Created" filter that came by default (createdDate >=-7d). 

Either of these quick filters works as expected.  But if I click on both filters, I show only one item in the entire backlog, even though there should be a dozen.

I've noticed this behavior for a few months, but haven't found a resolution.  Is there a known problem with using multiple filters in the backlog?

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Wade Harshman 

The Quick Filter functionality doesn't let you show all the issue that match Quick Filter 1 plus all the issues that match Quick Filter 2.

When you select multiple Quick Filters the only issues that will be shown will be the ones that match ALL the conditions in ALL the Quick Filters you selected. 

For the two filter you provided as examples the only issues that would match are

- those created in the past 7 days

- those that have one or more values in Labels and none of those values are "ThisLabel"

[Trudy Claspill]

@Wade Harshman 

After applying the Recently Created filter you say there are 13 issues left on the board.

Do all 13 issues have at least one value in the Labels field? If not, how many of them have no values at all in the Labels field?

When you use a filter for a multiple selection list to exclude issues that have a particular value:

i.e. Labels != "ThisValue"

...that criteria can be applied only to issues that have one or more values in the Labels field. If the field is empty, then Jira cannot check the field to see if none of the values equal "ThisValue". Issues where the field is empty will be excluded because there is no value in the field to compare to your criteria.

To retain the issues that have some Labels value but don't include "ThisValue", as well as retaining the issues that have no Labels value at all you need to use this filter:

Labels != "ThisValue" OR Labels IS EMPTY

[Wade Harshman]

Thank you, that was it.  I didn't consider that I was eliminating PBIs without labels.

[Trudy Claspill]

I'm glad I could help clear that up.

If your questions have been answered adequately, please consider marking the Answer as Accepted to help other users find posts with validated answers.

[Wade Harshman]

I'm afraid the scenario you describe as what should happen (what I expected to happen) is exactly what does not happen.

For example, I have a backlog with 257 issues.

The standard "Recently Created" filter narrows this down to 13, of which I can plainly see 2 issues which have a label I would like to filter out.  That should leave 11.

The filter which eliminates that label (labels != "ThisLabel") by itself will narrow the backlog down from 257 to 156.  (I have also tried 'labels not in (ThisLabel)' with the same results.)  So far, each quick filter works independently.  

But when I enable both filters at the same time, I am shown just 1 backlog item.