filter criteria date greater than or equal to today minus x days

barryrowland

I have a report where I want to show tasks with start dates greater than or equal to today minus x days. How can I do that in the filter criteria? ... ie tasks that are starting greater than or equal to x days ago.

Of course I could add a specific date but I want the report to work next week etc without having to update the date in the filter criteria.

As I type this I am thinking I just need a formula in the source sheet to calculate the date (eg today()-5) but just checking if this can be done without that ie directly in the filter criteria.

Ray Lindstrom

Hi @barryrowland,

That kind of filtering isn't available in reports. I agree that you need to do the calculation in the source sheet.

An idea I had is that you could create a helper column to capture this formula calculated date, and then just hide it. That way you don't alter the original date from whatever column you're grabbing it from.

Then you can include that column in your report.

All the best,

-Ray

barryrowland

Got it - thanks @Ray Lindstrom - my next question was what's a helper column but I found that on another post 😆 ... ie my take is just a normal column but used for helping purposes.

Ray Lindstrom

@barryrowland,

You got it. A help column is just another normal column that gets used for calculations and such. They're often hidden, but even hidden columns are available to select for Reports.