Power BI / Microsoft Fabric Semantic Model – “Sort by column” not working

Question

I’m working in a Microsoft Fabric Semantic Model (same behavior as Power BI Desktop model) and I’m trying to sort one column by another using the Sort by column option.

I have a dimension column (e.g. dim_hourlyband) and a numeric column (SortKey) in the same table. In the model, I set:

dim_hourlyband→ Sort by column → SortKey

But in the report visuals, the categories are not respecting the SortKey order. Instead, they appear in alphabetical order or by default sort.

What I have checked

Both columns are in the same table.
SortKey is a Whole Number data type.
No duplicate or ties in the sort order.
I already confirmed the “Sort by column” is set in Model view (see screenshot).
I also queried the model metadata using DAX Studio DMV (TMSCHEMA_COLUMNS) to confirm which column is used as the sort-by column for this table. It shows SortKey is not set correctly — but in the model set correctly.

Expected The HourlyBand should follow the SortKey order (e.g. 1,2,3,4,5) in visuals.

David_Berlin · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-25 11:45:44Z

-1

This is a common issue in Fabric/PBI.

Debugging direct in PBI can be tricky; the easiest way to connect your Semantic Model to the sepatate tool - Tabular Editor and fix the sorting there.

answered Sep 25 at 11:45

David_Berlin

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