How to Set a Default Sort Order for All Users in a Power BI App?

You can’t enforce a universal “reset” sort order in the Power BI Service beyond what you define in the published report. The way to make sure all users see the same default sort order is to set it up in Power BI Desktop and publish with that configuration:

1. Set the sort order in Desktop

   • Open your report in Power BI Desktop.

   • Select the table or matrix visual.

   • Use Sort by Column to define the default sort order you want.

   • Save and publish the report. This becomes the baseline view for everyone.

2. Use a default bookmark

   • Create a bookmark that captures the desired state (including sort order and filters).

   • Set this bookmark as the default view when publishing the app.

   • When users open the app, it will always load in that predefined state.

3. Understand user behavior

   • Users can still create personal bookmarks, but those only affect their own view.

   • There’s no admin-level override to force a reset every time; the published report and its default bookmark are the only mechanisms available.

In short: define the sort order in Power BI Desktop, publish with a default bookmark, and that will be the default for all users. If someone changes filters or sorts during a session, closing and reopening the app will bring them back to the default view you set unless they’ve saved a personal bookmark.

This matches Microsoft’s guidance: the default sort order must be defined in the report itself (via Sort by Column and/or a default bookmark), and there is no separate administrator setting in the Power BI Service to enforce it globally.

Microsoft documentation 

• Sort visuals in Power BI (explains how to set a default sort order in Desktop): Sort one column by another column in Power BI 

• Bookmarks in Power BI (covers how bookmarks capture filters, slicers, and sort order, and how to set a default view):Create report bookmarks in Power BI to share insights and build stories 

• Publish an app in Power BI (explains how the published app uses the report’s default view): Publish an App in Power BI 

Together, these pages confirm that the only way to enforce a default sort order for all users is to configure it in Power BI Desktop and/or set a default bookmark before publishing the app. There is no separate administrator setting in the Service to override user changes globally.