 filters filters are used to reduce the data set that views provides that is to say without any filters applied views will return all of your content you don t want that so at least some filters must be used some very commonly used filters the node published filter is used to restrict a node view to only nodes that are are have the published box checked this can be very important to prevent users from viewing content they should not have access to the node promoted to front page filter can be used to show only nodes that have the promote to front page turned on the node type filter is useful for showing only certain types of nodes let s say you wanted users to see only nodes that were book nodes or a combination of book nodes and staffblog nodes this filter allows you to select exactly that the user current filter will show only nodes that the logged in user has authored the node post date filter can be used to show only nodes posted before after or between a range of dates the above list is only a tiny fraction of the filters available in views referenced here to give an idea of the kinds of tasks filters can accomplish when you do not find a filter type you may need to choose a relationship before the expected filter will show or to install a new module that contains the requested filter when you click the rearrange icon you can first rearrange your filters easily delete filters and select an operator and or or by default the and operator is selcted at the lower right of the window is the new button add new group r when you click on it you can drag and drop an individual filter to the new group group 1 for this new group and the default group you can select the group operator and or or to remove a group remove all filters and click the remove group 1 button when you want that the user to select their own filter you can expose the filter a selection box will show for the user and they will be able to select one item after that the view will reload and only the selected item will be displayed you can also choose to expose the selection to a block see here  you can override the complete filter section see here for more information  