Data Selection in the Board M365 Excel Add-in allows users to filter data before it is requested from the Board model and retrieved into Excel. By defining a selection in advance, only the relevant data is queried and downloaded. This approach improves performance, reduces refresh time, and prevents Excel workbooks from being populated with unnecessary data.
A selection defines the data scope of a Table when the Table is created and each time it is refreshed or executed. A Table always uses the selection that is active at the moment of execution.
Entities available in the Selection area can be restricted in the Workbook settings in addition to security profiles.
Selections are defined at the sheet level, allowing different worksheets within the same workbook to use different selections.
If a selection is modified:
Only Tables that are refreshed or executed again reflect the updated selection.
Tables that are not refreshed retain their previous results.
This behavior ensures that data retrieval remains controlled and predictable, while allowing flexibility across worksheets within the same workbook.
See About the Select for more details on the Select function at Board.
How to create a selection
To create a selection, go to Data selection in the Board ribbon. The following options are available:
Selection. Defines the set of selected Entity Members that filters the data returned to a Table.
Selection Overview. Displays a summary of the selections applied in the workbook. It allows the user to check all active selections at any time.
Select Selection to open the Task pane and configure the desired filters.
The same selection window used in the Board Platform opens, with all its functionalities. Start by choosing a Data Model from the dropdown menu.
The Data Model shows its defined structure, including Cubes, Entities, and their relationships. The content displayed below reflects the Entities available within the selected Data Model.
Users can perform a selection from any Data Model they have access to. If they have already applied a selection for a specific Data Model, the dropdown menu under “Data Model” is preselected accordingly.
The Search field filters the displayed Entities. Search for the name of the desired Entity and enable it to add it to your list of selected Entities. Within each Entity, there are several Members. Choose the Members and then click “Save” to include them or “Discard” to exclude them from the result set. Confirm the selection to return to the main window.
The Show selection toggle restricts the view to the Entity Members currently selected for the sheet. Enable the toggle to view only the Members you have selected.
Click “SAVE” to confirm changes to the Entity selection. “CLOSE” closes the menu without saving changes.
Selections can only be made with the appropriate permissions. Administrators can restrict the ability of end users to use the Selection Editor in an application profile made in the Features section.
Additional options
When hovering over the available Entities, additional options appear at the right side of the "Select" column.
Those options are:
Focus
. Reconfigures the selection in the hierarchy, while the contents of the selected Entity remain fixed. See The Focus function for more details.Dynamic Selection
. Makes a dynamic selection based on the current period or based on data in other cubes. See Dynamic Selection for more details.Reset
. Resets the selection on a specific Entity (available only for checked Entities).A selection can also be reset by clicking the three-dot icon
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on the right side of the panel and selecting “Reset Selection”.
See the dedicated section in About the Select for more information about these options.
Available filter options
Click on the filter icon 
to display a dropdown list with the following filter options:
See the dedicated section in About the Select for more information about these options.
Selection visibility and ownership
Selections are saved as part of the workbook configuration and are not stored at the individual user level. When a workbook is shared, its selections are shared automatically with all users who open it. However, what each user can view and modify depends on license type and on the visibility rules defined.
End users can only:
Modify the values of Entities that have been exposed to them
Change Member selections within the available Entities
Reset selections where permitted.
Dynamic Selections, default Members, and structural changes to the selection configuration can only be defined or modified by Power Users and Developers. Both Power Users and Developers always see the complete selection model, regardless of settings restrictions. This ensures that workbook designers can control the data scope available to end users while maintaining a consistent selection structure.