Initial visible option in a drop down list used for filtering?

Question

I have a few dropdown lists used for filtering data in a grid. Initially the grid will show all the data and the user can select options from the dropdowns to filter by those selections.

Two questions: 1- What's a better option to indicate the dropdown has no selection? A blank option or something like '(View All)'? This will be the first option in the dropdown.

2- If the initial dropdown option is blank to indicate nothing is selected, would that confuse some users and make them think the dropdown is empty?

Answer 1

Consider having a default option that communicates what the user can expect to see in the dropdown.

Neither of the suggested options helps user understand what the control is for. Using the default text to add context, adds visibility to the control and helps with differentiation.

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