diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/matchers/refIdMatcher.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/matchers/refIdMatcher.ts
index 9ee6962be47..922085b2a00 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/matchers/refIdMatcher.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/matchers/refIdMatcher.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { stringStartsAsRegEx, stringToJsRegex } from '../../text/string';
+import { escapeStringForRegex, stringStartsAsRegEx, stringToJsRegex } from '../../text/string';
 import { DataFrame } from '../../types/dataFrame';
 import { FrameMatcherInfo } from '../../types/transformations';
 
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ const refIdMatcher: FrameMatcherInfo<string> = {
         }
       }
     }
+    // old format that was simply unescaped pipe-joined strings -> regexp
+    else if (pattern.includes('|')) {
+      // convert A|B -> /^(?:A|B)$/, regexp-escaping all chars between pipes
+      const escapedUnion = pattern.split('|').map(escapeStringForRegex).join('|');
+      regex = new RegExp(`^(?:${escapedUnion})$`);
+    }
 
     return (frame: DataFrame) => {
       return regex?.test(frame.refId || '') ?? frame.refId === pattern;
diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/filterByRefId.test.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/filterByRefId.test.ts
index 74a6477529b..7a85ed6a559 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/filterByRefId.test.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/filterByRefId.test.ts
@@ -37,8 +37,22 @@ describe('filterByRefId transformer', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  describe('respects', () => {
-    it('inclusion', async () => {
+  describe('respects inclusion', () => {
+    it('pipe delimited literals', async () => {
+      const cfg = {
+        id: DataTransformerID.filterByRefId,
+        options: {
+          include: 'A|B',
+        },
+      };
+
+      await expect(transformDataFrame([cfg], allSeries)).toEmitValuesWith((received) => {
+        const filtered = received[0];
+        expect(filtered.map((f) => f.refId)).toEqual(['A', 'B']);
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('explicit regexp', async () => {
       const cfg = {
         id: DataTransformerID.filterByRefId,
         options: {