How to Set Date Ranges, Filters, and Sorting in BigQuery With Porter Metrics

Before your marketing data lands in BigQuery, you control exactly what data goes in. Porter Metrics lets you set date ranges, apply filters, and configure sorting directly in the interface. No SQL required at this stage.

Here is how each setting works.

Setting Your Date Range

The date range determines how far back Porter pulls data when it loads your table. By default, Porter uses the last 7 days.

You change this by clicking the date range row in your Porter query configuration. Available options include:

Last 7 days

Last 14 days

Last 30 days

• This month
• Last month
• This year

Custom range (you specify start and end dates)

For most marketing teams setting up a new table, “last 30 days” or “last month” is a good starting point. Once your table is set up and running on a daily schedule, you use the write mode (append or update) to keep accumulating data over time.

If you want to backfill historical data, select a longer custom range for your first sync. After the initial load, switch to a shorter rolling window for your daily updates.

Applying Filters

Filters let you exclude or include specific rows before the data loads into BigQuery. You apply filters based on any dimension in your table.

To add a filter in Porter, click “Filter” and then click the “+” button. You see a filter builder with three parts:

• Condition: include or exclude.
• Field: the dimension to filter on (region, country, campaign name, account, etc.).
• Operator and value: the condition to match (equals, contains, starts with, etc.).
• A practical example: you manage campaigns across multiple regions but want your BigQuery table to contain only Latin America data. You add a filter: include, region, equals, “LATAM.” Porter loads only rows where the region column matches “LATAM.”

You can also exclude specific values. To remove Canada and United States from a table, you add: exclude, region, equals, “NAM.” Porter loads all rows except those from that region.

You combine multiple filters using AND or OR operators. AND narrows your data (both conditions must be true). OR broadens it (either condition can be true).

Using the Table Preview

While you configure your filters, Porter shows a live preview of your table on the right side of the screen. The preview updates as you add or change filters.

This preview lets you verify that your filters are working correctly before you send the data to BigQuery. If the preview shows the wrong data, you adjust your filters and check again. You catch configuration mistakes before they land in your table.

Sorting Your Data

Sorting controls the order of rows in your BigQuery table. You select a column to sort by and choose ascending or descending order.

Common sorting choices for marketing tables:

• Sort by date descending: most recent data appears at the top.
• Sort by spend descending: highest-spending campaigns appear first.
• Sort by conversions descending: best-performing campaigns appear first.

Sorting in Porter applies to the data as it loads into BigQuery. You can always re-sort in your SQL queries or in Looker Studio, but having a default sort order makes the table easier to browse in BigQuery Studio.

Combining Date Ranges, Filters, and Sorting

A well-configured Porter query uses all three settings together. For example:

• Date range: last 30 days.
• Filter: include only campaigns with spend greater than $0 (exclude campaigns with no spend).
• Sort: by date descending.

This gives you a BigQuery table with 30 days of data, only for active campaigns, sorted with the most recent dates at the top. Clean, focused data that is easy to query and report on.

After Configuring Your Data Settings

Once your date range, filters, and sorting are set, the next steps in Porter are selecting your write mode (overwrite, append, or update), setting your schedule, and clicking “Send” to load your data into BigQuery. Your configured table lands in BigQuery exactly as you set it up in the interface.