Forum Discussion
Matrix - formatting and Sorting
There appears to be no method to format column vertical lines; i would love to be able to format the top level of a column hierarchy - to have a alternating colour background on the that level of text, also to have thicker vertical lines
it also seems mad that we don't appear to have a method to sort the column order
Hi 101Mathew ,
This behavior is a current limitation of the Matrix visual. Power BI doesn’t support applying different formatting at individual column hierarchy levels such as alternating header colors or thicker vertical gridline, and column groups can’t be manually reordered. The order of hierarchy fields is always driven by the model’s sort logic , alphabetical or Sort by Column. While measures can be reordered by drag and drop in the Values well, this capability does not apply to column hierarchy fields.As a workaround, you can use a dedicated sort column in the model, or replace the column hierarchy with individual measures so you can control their order explicitly. Features like Field Parameters or dynamic format strings can help with dynamic selection or value formatting, but they don’t solve the core limitations around hierarchy level formatting or custom column ordering in a Matrix at this time.
8 Replies
101Mathew Your observation is correct. These are current Power BI limitations.
Formatting column hierarchy headers:
You cannot format different levels of a column hierarchy separately
No option to apply alternating background colors to top-level column headers
Vertical grid lines cannot be made thicker per column or hierarchy level
Only global grid on/off and color settings are available
Header formatting applies to all column levels equally
Column order sorting:
There is no direct UI option to manually reorder columns in a matrix
Column order follows:
Natural sort of the column field
Or “Sort by column” from the data model
You cannot drag and drop column order like rows
Workarounds:
Create a custom sort column and use “Sort by column”
Prefix column names with numbers (01, 02, 03)
Hi 101Mathew , You are correct Power BI does not support custom column ordering in a Matrix the way it supports row ordering
But you can follow these steps that might work in favour :
1. Fake column hierarchy using measuresInstead of a column hierarchy, you:
Create separate measures for each logical column
Place them side-by-side in Values
Control order manually
Example :Sales_2024 = CALCULATE([Sales], 'Date'[Year] = 2024) Sales_2025 = CALCULATE([Sales], 'Date'[Year] = 2025)2. Add a “sort index” column (only works for rows)
If your complaint is partly about column categories, the only sortable alternative is to pivot them into rows.Steps:
Unpivot data so categories become rows
Add numeric SortOrder column
Sort category by SortOrder
Use Matrix rows instead of columns
3. Simulated top-level header stylingYou can fake top-level formatting by:
Adding the top hierarchy field as:
A row
With stepped layout OFF
Turning off subtotals
Using conditional formatting on row background:
DAX IsTopLevel = IF( ISINSCOPE('Table'[Child]), 0, 1 )Then apply:
Background color when IsTopLevel = 1
Transparent otherwise
4. Vertical separators using blank columns
To simulate thicker vertical lines:
Add a dummy measure:DAX Spacer = ""Place it between columns
Set background color darker
Reduce column width
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🚀Let’s keep building smarter, data-driven solutions together!🚀 [Explore More]Thank you sorry I should have stated that I need to have measure switched to rows
101Mathew , Power BI does support moving measures from columns to rows, but it is controlled by a Matrix-only setting.
Step-by-step
Select your Matrix visual
Open Format pane
Go to Values
Toggle Show on rows = On
Result:
Measures appear as row headers
Columns now represent only column fields
Measures behave like categorical row members
Measure ordering (finally controllable)
Measures appear in the order they are listed in the Values well
You can:
Drag measures up/down to reorder
Remove/reinsert measures in a fixed order
You can now apply row-level background formatting, which affects each measure row independently.
- Workaround — fake measure group headers
Create a text measure to act as a group header.DAX Revenue Header = "REVENUE"Place it above revenue-related measures in the Values well.
Then format:
Bold font
Dark background
Disable totals for that row
To hide values:
Conditional formatting → Font color = background color
Or return BLANK() for numeric visuals
Hi 101Mathew ,
This behavior is a current limitation of the Matrix visual. Power BI doesn’t support applying different formatting at individual column hierarchy levels such as alternating header colors or thicker vertical gridline, and column groups can’t be manually reordered. The order of hierarchy fields is always driven by the model’s sort logic , alphabetical or Sort by Column. While measures can be reordered by drag and drop in the Values well, this capability does not apply to column hierarchy fields.As a workaround, you can use a dedicated sort column in the model, or replace the column hierarchy with individual measures so you can control their order explicitly. Features like Field Parameters or dynamic format strings can help with dynamic selection or value formatting, but they don’t solve the core limitations around hierarchy level formatting or custom column ordering in a Matrix at this time.
Thank you, this was my findings also, I was wondering if there was some type of solution - I've raised an suggestion in the Idea's section yesterday for this -
My issue is compounded by the need to switch the measures into rows
I forgot to mention that coumn headers are sorted either alphabetically in chronological order (no optino to reverse it) or based on the defined custom sort for that column.
