Posts filed under Design & Presentation

Invisible (and Built-In) Categorical Sorting Trick for Columns in Power BI

Video by: Reid Havens

Ever wanted your matrix or table in Power BI to sort by a hidden value — without showing that value in the visual? In this video, I’ll show you a powerful trick using zero-width Unicode characters to embed an invisible sort order directly into your categorical columns.

We’ll walk through a demo using a dataset of transaction IDs and regions, and show how you can control sort behavior without cluttering your visuals. Tune in to learn more!

RELATED CONTENT 🔗

Built-In Sort for Columns

Posted on June 3, 2025 and filed under DAX, Design & Presentation.

More Variance Comparisons to Stacked Column Charts

Video by: Reid Havens

Learn of a few more designs, methods, and techniques for adding comparison variance values to stacked column charts. Currently native stacked columns don’t support adding direct (error bar) comparisons. So this technique uses a combo chart to achieve it’s result. Tune in to learn more!

Posted on October 15, 2024 and filed under Visualizations, Design & Presentation.

3 Report Configurations You Need to Review in Reader Mode!

Video by: Reid Havens

Learn about three visual/report configurations that should be reviewed after publishing a report to the Power BI service, and viewing the report in reader mode. Today these features can be easily misconfigured in Power BI desktop, which is why it's so important to review them in reader mode. Tune in to learn more!

Posted on April 30, 2024 and filed under Reporting, Design & Presentation, Beginner.