Exclude by Filter
Choose records
Subtract a saved filter's population from another filter's results.
Exclude by Filter removes rows from the filter you are editing when they are related to rows returned by another saved filter. It is useful when a population is already defined in one filter and another workflow needs to omit that population.
For example, you can start with Active Directory users and exclude users related to an active students filter. The remaining result can identify AD users who are outside that active-student population.
Before you beginDirect link to Before you begin
- Create and test the filter that defines the population to exclude. Confirm it returns the intended records.
- Create or open the destination filter. Its Start Table should contain the records you want to keep or remove.
- Confirm the two filters have different Start Tables connected by a configured relation with appropriate keys. The excluded filter must be related to the destination filter's start table. NIM does not let you select an excluded filter with the same start table.
Add Exclude by FilterDirect link to Add Exclude by Filter
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Go to Processing > Filters and edit the destination filter.
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In Filter specification, select the blue Exclude by Filter icon on the row or logical group where the exclusion belongs.
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In the new exclude related to item, select the saved filter whose related records should be removed. If the filter you expected is unavailable, check that its start table differs from—and is related to—the destination filter's start table.
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Open Data, select Filter, and check that records matching the excluded population are absent while other expected records remain.
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Select Save.
The exclusion is one item in the filter specification. If it sits inside an AND or OR group, review the surrounding logic when previewing the result.
NIM evaluates the selected filter's result, including its configured selection and ordering. If that filter uses Only Include First to keep a preferred record, preview its final result before relying on it for the exclusion.
Example: AD users outside the active-student populationDirect link to Example: AD users outside the active-student population
The Students_Active filter starts with the student table and defines the population of active students.
The Students_Inactive_AD filter starts with AD.Users. It also checks employeeType and requires an employeeID. Its exclude related to item selects Students_Active, removing AD users related to records in that active-student filter.
The result is an inverse of the active-student population within this AD-user scope. It is not necessarily every inactive student: the AD start table and the other conditions still determine which records can appear. Preview known active and inactive users, plus an AD user with no matching student record, before using the filter in a workflow.
When both filters start from the same tableDirect link to When both filters start from the same table
Exclude by Filter cannot compare two filters that have the same Start Table, even if one is a child of the other. This is by design: the exclusion item requires a relation to the other filter's start table, rather than another filter on the same table.
If you need a narrower population based on shared criteria, consider a child filter. It inherits the parent's rules and adds restrictions without calculating a separate excluded filter. A child filter is not automatically equivalent to subtracting an arbitrary second result set; check the resulting rows against the original requirement.
For example, a filter might use Ordering & Selection to choose one preferred organizational unit from several locations per user. A second filter with the same user start table cannot select that first filter in exclude related to, even when the preferred-row filter would make the exclusion easy to describe. Build the condition in the destination filter, use an appropriate lookup, or design a filter from a different related start table when that matches the data model. Preview users with multiple locations to confirm the chosen approach.
Choose the right exclusion methodDirect link to Choose the right exclusion method
| Need | Use |
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| Remove records related to another saved filter with a different start table | Exclude by Filter on this page. |
| Add restrictions to a shared set of rules on the same start table | A child filter. |
| Remove rows whose column value exists in a different table without a configured relation | An exclude lookup. |
| Remove rows marked by a Boolean column or keep one row per repeated value | Row exclusion and selection. |
If the saved filter is unavailable or the result is unexpected, check that the start tables differ, verify the relation and keys between them, and inspect the excluded filter's final result. Then preview the destination filter again.