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rankin_chris's avatar
rankin_chris
Copper Contributor
Sep 14, 2017

Power Query Preserve column sort/filter/layout

In Excel 2016, Version 1705 (Build 8201.2193), if I have a query from Get & Transform that is returned to the worksheet, it reorders the columns to match what is in the query editor every time I refresh - even if I check the box to "Preserve column sort/filter/layout" in External Data Properties.  In previous versions, checking this box would maintain whatever column order is in the worksheet and new columns would be added at the end.  Is there a new setting somewhere that I can set so it doesn't change the column order each refresh?

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  • claudiapeitzp's avatar
    claudiapeitzp
    Copper Contributor
    Aug 14, 2020

    rankin_chris I know it's been a long time but I've been looking for an answer to this problem for a long time and found it on an even older thread: unchecking the "Add this to the Data Model" option in the "Load To..." settings, makes the data sorting in the table the same as the one seen in the query preview.

    Source: https://chandoo.org/forum/threads/power-query-sorting.23455/

    • SergeiBaklan's avatar
      SergeiBaklan
      Diamond Contributor
      Aug 14, 2020

      claudiapeitzp 

      You may wrap previous step with Table.Buffer, or, alternatively, add Index before sorting and remove after that.

      • claudiapeitzp's avatar
        claudiapeitzp
        Copper Contributor
        Aug 14, 2020
        In my case (and the other users’ in the source forum I posted too), adding the row index and sorting by it would still load the query to the table in an differently sorted way. This means I would have to sort the index column in excel every time I refreshed the table, which is not a practical solution either. I believe this is some kind of bug, but I’ve only been working with power query in excel for a couple of months.
  • marcus595's avatar
    marcus595
    Copper Contributor
    Sep 28, 2019

    I still find this to be an issue. Hopefully Microsoft will address this issue. Weird that it would work perfectly in 2013 but then not in subsequent versions. rankin_chris 

  • James Tarr's avatar
    James Tarr
    Copper Contributor
    Jan 05, 2019
    Just wanted to follow up on this query. Had anyone had any luck with resolving this? I’ve tried all the external data options and it seems like the button for “preserve column sort/layout” doesn’t do anything in Excel 365. It worked fine in Excel 2013 with PQ addin.
  • Wyn Hopkins's avatar
    Wyn Hopkins
    MVP
    Sep 16, 2017
    Hi Chris,

    I hadn't noticed that change, but I can see what you mean. I guess it would be best practice to sort your columns in Power Query editor anyway but an interesting change of how things work...

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