Column Reordering Disorder

Hello! I was following the Income Statement tutorial led by Sam and was able to sort the income statement by the “Row Index” hidden column which works fine. However, if the user accidently clicks on any other non hidden column headers on the income statement, it would automatically reorder based on that column (see below image). Is there a way in Power BI to disable the column reordering or freeze the ordering by only allowing it to sort by only “Row Index” column?

Capture

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello @lulumoon,

Thank you for posting your query onto the Forum.

Well there’s no direct option or workaround as of now, that one can disable the sorting of any column in a “Table” or “Matrix” visual. But you can definitely apply a trick to prevent your users from sorting any columns unknowingly. Below are the steps suggested alongwith the screenshots provided for the reference -

Steps 1: Under the “Insert” tab. Go to the “Shapes” option and select the "Rectangle" shape.

Step 2: Resize the “Rectangle” shape as per the column headers in your visual.

Step 3: Go to the “Format Shape” pane. And disable the “Fill” option and under the “Line” option bring down the “Weight” from 3 to 0

Step 4: Now, if you check the visual the “Rectangle” shape will be hidden. So if the users by mistake also clicks on to the header instead of sorting the “Rectangle” shape will get activated but they won’t be able to see that shape since we’ve already removed the format of that shape.

So in all I guess this is a good bargain since there’s no other alternative to disable the sorting option by default in Power BI.

I’m also attaching the working of the PBIX file for the reference.

Hoping you find this useful and meets your requirements that you’ve been looking for. :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks and Warm Regards,
Harsh

Income Statement - Harsh.pbix (858.2 KB)

3 Likes

Oh wow, thanks so much! That’ll do the trick.

Hello @lulumoon,

You’re Welcome. :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m glad I was able to help you.

Thanks and Warm Regards,
Harsh