Strange behavour on Date ranges relative to panel

[mjdavid007]

Hi! I use a customized date range for my panel (start > when the site was officially launched | end > rolling day - 1 day). There are some tables on which I have to apply a shorter date range (let's say, from October 30 until yesterday), so I created another date rage with these requirements (start > Oct 30 | end > rolling day - 1 day).

When I apply this new range to a metric, it seems to work for the total number, BUT if I breakdown by days, they don't make sense, because days outside this shorter date range get the credit. What AA is doing is that, if my shorter range has, for instance, 17 days, it allocates the values in the first 17 days of the panel date range:

In the following screenshot: Panel range > Nov. 29, 2023 until today (Nov 13). Shorter date range > Oct. 30 until yesterday (Nov 12), which is 13 days in total. As you can see, the first 13 days of the panel range get the values, though they are not in the segment applied. Any ideas?

[Jennifer_Dungan]

While I see what you are saying about comparing a longer time range to a shorter time range, I am not sure what outcome you expect when trying to look at a Daily granularity?

If you are comparing 30 days to 15 days in a grid, the 15 days range can only ever show 15 rows of data, whereas the table as a whole will show all 30 rows... 

The table isn't really showing you content outside of the range, those days (that aren't in your range) technically are labelled, but they will always show 0 because they are outside of the range. You could raise this with client care, but I assume a small visual issue like this isn't going to be high on the list to fix. It's the same as if I create a segment that says "pages that contain section" then I have two columns, one where my segment is stacked with a metric... I will still see pages that aren't sections, because my other column still has relevant data... 

You can always set the column settings to "Interpret 0 as no value"... while you will still see the "dates" display, the rows will be a little cleaner:

Comparing different ranges will always have challenges. This is a minor display annoyance, but shouldn't impact your data or comparisons in any way.

[mjdavid007]

Thanks for the reply. What I mean is that, if I apply a shorter date range to a metric (in my example above, Oct. 30 to Nov 12) and I break it down by Days, I would only expect data to appear on days between Oct. 30 and Nov 12 and zero on any other. What AA is doing is counting the amount of days in that shorter date range (13) and, if you break down by days, it will start counting on the longer panel date range and, in my "shorter" column, only show values to the first 13 days (even though the events did not happen then, but on the shorter date range).

[Jennifer_Dungan]

I'm still not sure I fully understand the issue... if you have a panel range of 30 days, and a column with a 15 day range, I am not sure what you actually expect to happen?

You will get one column showing data for 30 days, and one column that will show the first 15 days, and then nothing beyond that...

Adobe doesn't have a "variable" compare... if that is the issue you are trying to describe, as in, you want Adobe to create flexible comparisons... unfortunately, you will have to do that work manually at this time... maybe one day they will have that option... 

[mjdavid007]

If you see my first column, where the time segment is applied, it shows values from May 27, 2025 to June 9, 2025. However, that time segment is created with dates "from October 30, 2025 until yesterday". So, if I breakdown by days, in that first column, I would expect values only in days between October 30 on. If you see the column again, it shows values, in that colum, on days like May 28, 2025 where per my understanding it should show 0 (because that date is before my time segment even starts). 

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

It's not though... the dates in your breakdown are for the main (non-date column)... On the date range column, you will see the dates associated to the data.

I've colour-coded the display for you. The "Date Breakdown" is based on the Panel, and yes, that runs from May 27 to whenever. You will also see those same dates (in green) on the second column.

The first column, where you have applied the date range is showing you the range that you selected. Oct 30 - Nov....

This is because you are trying to compare dates... so the first row is comparing May 27, 2025 to Oct 30, 2025 (your first "date range date")

Same with the second row, you are comparing May 28, 2025 to Oct 31, 2025.

This is how comparing dates works in Adobe, it's not a bug.

Normally you would be doing a more "logical" comparison... Last Month to Two Months ago... so you are comparing the 1st to the 1st, or the 2nd to the 2nd... Or comparing two years, so you are comparing Jan 1, 2024 to Jan 1, 2025.... and so on... But ANY dates can be compared, and this is why the "alternate dates" are shown in the cell with the data, so you can see exactly what date the values are from.

[mjdavid007]

Ok, this is embarrassing, but I couldn't see the small dates above the values until you shared this coloured-coded screenshot... I was just checking the dates in the Dimension column, not the small ones.

Now I get it and it makes total sense. Thanks as usual and sorry for all the trouble! 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

No worries... I think this is also where the disconnect came in this discussion... why I was confused. Sorry it took so long to get this sorted out... and yes, the tiny text is a bit hard to see...but I get it (they want to try and reduce visual overload).

Comparing Day to Day is always a bit confusing, but if you want to do anything like a Percent Change, or a raw Difference... the days have to be on the same row for those calculations to work.

Glad we got this sorted out!