[Update: After publishing this blog, I found that, since Tableau 10.3, a new feature has been added to ease the pain. It basically solved the problem. For those who are still using 10.2 or who like to understand the Top option of the filter, this blog still can help. For example, it shows how to create a rolling window of most recent dates.]

An issue in our monthly Tableau reporting dashboard has been bothering me for a while:
How to set date filter default to the last month, after each data refresh.  Also we would like the option to view anyone of the previous months.

This is an important function for automating a monthly dashboard.

Have done some research but didn't find a satisfactory solution. After coming back from Tableau Conference 2017 and getting inspired to give the issue another shot, seems I found a solution that's fairly easy. Here you go.

This simple example entails two columns: Date and Sales. The dashboard is supposed to auto-update itself monthly.

Let's create a simple bar chart and drag the date to the filter shelf. Set up the filter as follows:

1.Select "Use All" in Filter Editor
2.Select Top tab and set the Date to Top 1
3.Publish to the server with whatever refresh schedule

That's it! This will always show the monthly dashboard view of the latest month with data.

Additional comments:
- "Show filter" will allow us to select any other month's view.

- Add and display the current month in Title (the filter will show "All" by default).

- Add a context filter to exclude an incomplete most recent month if needed.

- If there are too many dates in the filter, add a context filter to reduce the date range.

- Set the context filter Date to Top 12 will allow us to view a rolling window of 12-month's view. 12 can be replaced by a parameter to select any date range.

- The same works for last year, quarter, week, day etc.