Alphanumeric Sorting in Visuals

[BekahLoSurdo]

Hi all,

I have a bar graph with x-axis values that start with numbers and/or letters. Prior to today, it has always autosorted to [A-Z], [0-9] but when I refreshed my dashboard today, it switched to [0-9], [A-Z]. I can't switch to descending because I need the values within [A-Z] and [0-9] to be ascending. Any thoughts on why this would change? If this is a common occurence I'd like to be aware so I can create "sort by" columns for all of my visuals (which will be a pain and only worth it if necessary).

Prior to Refresh		After Refresh
Ascending*	Descending	Ascending	Descending
No Due Date	2 - 4 weeks	0 - 2 weeks	Past Due
Past Due	0 - 2 weeks	2 - 4 weeks	No Due Date
0 - 2 weeks	Past Due	No Due Date	2 - 4 weeks
2 - 4 weeks	No Due Date	Past Due	0 - 2 weeks

*Desired result

Thanks!

Bekah

[v-gizhi-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi,

This condition is beacuse you design the initial sort for X-axis before refresh like [A-Z],[0-9].

However, when you refresh it, it will show the new sort by lexicographical order like [0-9],[A-Z].

This is just the correct sort.

Best Regards,

Giotto Zhi

[VasTg]

@BekahLoSurdo 

Create a new column for sort order and use that column as SORT BY for "Proposal Date Range"

Refer to the documentation..

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-sort-by-column

If it helps, mark it as a solution

Kudos are nice too

[BekahLoSurdo]

Hi @VasTg,

As I mentioned in my post, I don't want to create a sort by as a default solution for all of my visuals on all of my dashboards unless necessary. So I'm more interested in the "why" this is happening.