Power Query refresh deletes "sort by column" settings

[Anonymous]

I'm having a problem in Desktop that's affected others in the past, I think due to bugs that have been fixed in past releases

When I edit and then refresh tables in Power Query, I lose any "sort by column" settings in the corresponding tables or any made via dependent queries in PQ

I'm using the December 2020 version of Desktop

Any fixes or tips? It makes maintaining tables error-prone and laborious 

[PhilipTreacy]

Hi @Anonymous 

Do you mean that your sorting steps are giving you unexpected results after a refresh?

You can try using Table.Buffer to make the table's sort reliable, like

= Table.Sort(Table.Buffer(Source),{{"Column1", Order.Ascending}})

Regards

Phil

[amitchandak]

@Anonymous , We have not seen this behavior. I doubt anyone else reported that too - https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Issues/idb-p/Issues

Are you doing any change columns, which are involved ?

[Anonymous]

@amitchandak - here's an example of it happening before:

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Sort-by-columns-all-lost-after-data-refresh/td-p/352772

@PhilipTreacy  - here's a picture illustrating the "sort by column" setting that is being erased (here it is set correctly)

[v-jingzhang]

Hi @Anonymous 

I tested "sort by column" feature on Power BI Desktop Version: 2.88.802.0 64-bit (December 2020) and couldn't reproduce it. I used a common scenario to test: sort month name by month number, and it worked well. Can you share some steps or sample pbix file (removing sensitive data) to help us reproduce your problem? Thanks.

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Jing Zhang

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks for trying, @v-jingzhang 

I think it's actually a problem within Tabular Editor ( @dotykier  ) because when I set the sort order column within Power BI Desktop, the problem doesn't occur

[dotykier]

Please be aware that modifying column properties (such as the "sort by column" property) is not currently supported by the External Tools integration (preview): https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/desktop-external-tools#supported-write-oper...

[Anonymous]

Thanks @dotykier ! I didn't realise that