Zebra BI Tables is by far the most powerful table/matrix visual in Power BI, and with it, you can build extremely flexible tables with embedded charts. Besides reordering columns, doing a P&L calculation, and top N analysis, the visual offers a range of options for sorting. For best experience, you are welcome to start a free trial of Zebra BI for Power BI first.
One-click sort by any column
Designers and viewers alike can sort by any value column by clicking its header. Each click moves the column to the next sort option:
- Descending
- Ascending
- Original order
- Manual sort (drag a row to activate the option)
When a column is sorted descending or ascending, a small up or down arrow appears next to its header. With Original order and Manual sort, no arrow is shown.
Original order: the order from your data model
Many tables need a fixed, familiar order, for example:
- accounts in an income statement,
- business units or regions in your standard order,
- and many others…
This is what Original order is for. Click a column header until no up or down arrow is shown next to the column names and Original oder tooltip appears when you hove over the header.
If your category field is already sorted correctly in your Power BI model (Modeling > Sort by column), the categories appear in the right order automatically:
If you did not get the order you wanted, you can choose a field to sort by in the visual’s ellipsis (…) menu. Select any data field in the Sort by menu and choose Ascending or Descending.
Manual sort: drag rows into your own order
Sometimes the order your audience expects isn’t in the model, and adding a sorting column isn’t worth the effort. With Manual sort you put rows where they belong by dragging them, without touching the model.
How to use it
- Grab a row.
- Drop it where it belongs.
The table keeps your order as a Manual sort. If you drag a subtotal row, its whole block moves with it.
Switching between sort options
Clicking a column header still cycles through the sort options, and Manual sort is one of them. You can sort by a value, then click through to return to your own order.
Going back to the original order
To discard your manual order, right-click on any row and select Reset row order in the menu. The rows return to the original order.
🚨What can’t be moved
- The grand total, formula rows and “Others” rows stay where they are.
- A table that has a row marked as Result can’t be sorted, so it can’t be reordered by dragging either.
In view mode
Dragging follows the same Sorting interaction setting as column sorting. If you have turned sorting off for viewers, they can’t drag rows either.
Example: Original order from Power BI model
Power BI will sort all category (text) fields alphabetically unless you specify a custom sort for a selected data field in your Power BI model.
As a best practice approach, we recommend that you set up an original order for any data fields that require a specific order of elements.
To set up a custom sort order in your Power BI model, you need to:
- Import an additional “sorting” column (e.g. Account ID, Business Unit ID, Account order, etc.) into your Power BI model.
- Set the sort order for your data field to the new sorting column.
To set the sort order, select your data field in Power BI, then click on Column tools > Sort by column and select the appropriate sorting data field from the menu. In the following screenshot, we have set the sort order on the “Business unit” field to the sorting field called “Business unit ID”.
And that’s it. As you can see sorting in as little as one click and we’re confident you’ll soon manage to sort without much thought. If you are not the Zebra BI for Power BI user yet, you will have the best experience, if you start a free trial.
Read more about setting up a custom sort order logic. Besides custom sorting, you can also add your own custom columns into the visual. →