Sort column by multiple columns

[aburling1989]

Hi,

I was wondering if it was possible to sort a column based on two columns?

In the example below I'm trying to sort the Category by the Sort_Order column. The problem is that the sort order is different for the same values within each group. Ideally what I'm looking for is to sort the category by the Sort_Order within each group. Is this possible?

Group	Category	Sort_Order
1	Large	1
1	Small	2
1	Medium	3
2	Small	1
2	Medium	2
2	Large	3

I appreciate any help with.

Many thanks,

Ash

[v-eachen-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @aburling1989 ,

You could create a rank column to sort category.

Rank =
RANKX ( 'Table', 'Table'[Group] * 10 + 'Table'[Sort_Order],, ASC, DENSE )

 

[az38]

@aburling1989 

also, you can check here https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/how-to-sort-a-table-using-multiple-columns-in-power-bi/ to understand how to sort Table visual by a multiple columns (hint: use Shift + Click)

[az38]

Hi @aburling1989 

If I understand you correct you can create a Surrogate Order Column and try to sort by it, like

Surrogate Order Column = 
CONCATENATE(Table[Group], CONCATENATE("_", Table[Sort_Order]) )

[aburling1989]

Hi @az38 ,

Many thanks for the quick response. The problem is the values in the 'Category' column are not unique, so even if I concatenate the 'Group' and 'Sort' columns I still get this error message: "There can't be more than one value in 'Category' for the same value in 'Surrogate Order Column'.

If I concatenate the 'Group' and 'Category' column it would work as they become unique values but I want to avoid doing that if possible.

Many thanks,

Ashley

[az38]

@aburling1989 

Do you create measure or column?

If column, there shouldn't be such error

[aburling1989]

Hi @az38 ,

I added it as a column and it certainly sorts the data correctly; However the issue I still have is that I can't specifically sort the 'Category' by this column. So if I was to add 'Category' to a slicer it still defaults the sort order alphabetically, but I would want it sorted by the new 'Surrogate Order Column'.

Thanks again for your help.

Ashley

[az38]

@aburling1989 

try this technique https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/desktop-sort-by-column