# Filtering Macie findings
<a name="findings-filter-overview"></a>

To perform targeted analysis and to analyze findings more efficiently, you can filter Amazon Macie findings. With filters, you build custom views and queries for findings, which can help you identify and focus on findings that have specific characteristics. Use the Amazon Macie console to filter findings, or submit queries programmatically using the Amazon Macie API.

When you create a filter, you use specific attributes of findings to define criteria for including or excluding findings from a view or from query results. A *finding attribute* is a field that stores specific data for a finding, such as severity, type, or the name of the S3 bucket that a finding applies to.

In Macie, a filter consists of one or more conditions. Each condition, also referred to as a *criterion*, consists of three parts:
+ An attribute-based field, such as **Severity** or **Finding type**.
+ An operator, such as *equals* or *not equals*.
+ One or more values. The type and number of values depends on the field and operator that you choose.

If you create a filter that you want to use again, you can save it as a *filter rule*. A *filter rule* is a set of filter criteria that you create and save to reapply when you review findings on the Amazon Macie console.

You can also save a filter as a *suppression rule*. A *suppression rule* is a set of filter criteria that you create and save to automatically archive findings that match the criteria of the rule. To learn about suppression rules, see [Suppressing findings](findings-suppression.md).

**Topics**
+ [Filter fundamentals](findings-filter-basics.md)
+ [Fields for filtering findings](findings-filter-fields.md)
+ [Creating and applying filters](findings-filter-procedure.md)
+ [Defining filter rules](findings-filter-rule-procedures.md)