Sort column in table by another column when table is from Lakehouse

Hi Alaahady,

You’re right that sorting a column by another column in Lakehouse-sourced semantic models is currently limited in the Service compared to Desktop.

At the moment:

• The “Sort by Column” option is not exposed in the Service UI for Lakehouse tables or direct Lakehouse semantic models.

• You need to set the sort relationship before publishing:

  • Either in Power BI Desktop while building your semantic model,

  • Or by using a Date table with a sort column already aligned in your Lakehouse table.

If you need to sort “Week of Year” correctly:
✅ In your Lakehouse, add a column like WeekSort (e.g., Year * 100 + WeekOfYear) that ensures correct chronological sort order.
✅ When creating your semantic model (or if using Desktop to build it before publishing), use “Sort by Column” there before publishing to the Service.

Unfortunately, there is no toggle in the Fabric Service alone to set “Sort by Column” after the model is published from Lakehouse, and yes, this is a known gap many are waiting to be improved.

Thank You

Hi Alaahady 

May I know which mode you are using in Power BI when pulling the data from lakehuse? 

Thank you!!

Hi Alaahady ,

You're absolutely right to be frustrated - this is one of those annoying gaps between Desktop and Service capabilities. The "Sort by Column" feature just isn't available in the Service for Lakehouse semantic models.

What's happening: When you connect directly from Lakehouse to create a semantic model, you lose a lot of the modeling flexibility you'd have in Desktop. The Service assumes your data is already "modeling-ready."

Your realistic options:

Option 1: Fix it in the Lakehouse Add a proper sort column to your week table in the Lakehouse itself. Something like:

• WeekSort = Year * 100 + WeekNumber
• This gives you 202401, 202402, etc. which sorts chronologically

Option 2: Use Desktop as an intermediary

• Import from Lakehouse into Desktop
• Set your sort relationships there
• Publish that semantic model to Service
• Yeah, it's an extra step but gives you full control

Option 3: Build your date logic differently Instead of "Week of Year," use actual week start/end dates that naturally sort correctly.

The gap you're hitting is real and lots of people are complaining about it. Microsoft really needs to add more modeling tools to the Service, especially for Lakehouse scenarios.

For now, Option 1 is probably your cleanest path forward if you want to stick with direct Lakehouse semantic models.

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This response was assisted by AI for translation and formatting purposes.