# External Links and retaining filters

**URL:** <https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/external-links-and-retaining-filters/2596>\
**Category:** Product Ideas\
**Created:** [November 3, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/external-links-and-retaining-filters/2596 "2023-11-03T20:06:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![telam](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/telam/32/120_2.png) [@telam](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/telam)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/external-links-and-retaining-filters/2596/1 "2023-11-03T20:06:46Z")

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At our company we have hundreds of salespeople. these salespeople have goals, and they like to keep track of them.

Currently external links do not save filters Example:  
I create a generic dashboard then add a filter for salesperson, use that filter, save as “joe’s”  
dashboard, and provide an external link to Joe so he can view his details when needed.

The problem is external links don’t save the filters, so when Joe opens the link, he’s going to see the entire non-filtered dashboard, not just his own data.

We can’t just buy 300 viewer licenses, that’s not smart economically. Also, the salespeople wouldn’t actually login to see this info, it’s MUCH easier to have a saved link and go directly to the data vs having to login and navigate to it. So…

This suggestion is for external links to INCLUDE the filters, so we can allow our salespeople to see data on them, and not everyone else.

Now, I know that’s not a good business model for PHOCAS, but this is a feature that could turn out well for them down the line, right?

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**Author:** ![Neil\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/838e76/32.png) [@Neil\_S](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/Neil_S)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 9:36am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/external-links-and-retaining-filters/2596/2 "2023-11-10T09:36:14Z")

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We’ve used this for a similar approach and have appended filters to the external link URL which means the filter is applied when you open the link.

If you add ? at the end of the link you can put the filter condition of “dimension name”=“dimensioncode” (it might work with multiple separated by & but not tried this e.g.  
?salespersonID=3

If you have spaces in the name you have to use %20 to escape them

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**Author:** ![telam](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/pug.phocassoftware.com/telam/32/120_2.png) [@telam](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/telam)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/external-links-and-retaining-filters/2596/3 "2023-11-13T20:37:59Z")

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Thanks, Neil! I would like to add/point out the filter must be on a DIMENSION not a property. For anyone reading this in the future. But huge thanks to Neil for pointing this out for me!

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**Author:** ![Neil\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/838e76/32.png) [@Neil\_S](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/u/Neil_S)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 8:21am UTC](https://pug.phocassoftware.com/t/external-links-and-retaining-filters/2596/4 "2023-11-14T08:21:42Z")

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Thanks Telam, glad it helped and a good point about needing to use a dimension not a property.