Tableau | Data visualisation How to do Nested Sorting in Tableau Desktop 2019.1 and newer
Ever wonder why your subcategories won't sort? Nested sorting in Tableau 2019.1 is the fix.
- Nested sorting was only added in Tableau 2019.1, which is why older versions can't sort hierarchically the way you'd expect
- A standard sort only orders the top-level dimension, leaving subcategories unsorted when you expand the hierarchy
- Switching to a nested sort makes Tableau re-apply the sort at every level of the hierarchy as you expand and collapse
- Nested sorting improves usability so users don't have to manually re-sort the visualisation themselves
Nested sorting, added in Tableau 2019.1, makes a sort apply at every level of a hierarchy instead of only the top level, so subcategories stay sorted when users expand and collapse.
Using a table with category and subcategory in the rows shelf alongside sales, a normal sort only orders the top-level category, leaving subcategories unsorted whenever the hierarchy is expanded.
- Why this feature exists 0:00
Nested sorting was only introduced in Tableau 2019.1, so if you're on an older version, hierarchical sorting like this simply isn't available.
- See the standard sort's limitation 0:22
With a normal sort applied to a hierarchy (e.g. category then subcategory), expanding the top level shows the categories sorted correctly, but the subcategories underneath each one are left unsorted.
- Switch to a nested sort 0:42
Go back into the sort options and choose nested sort instead of the standard sort. This must replace the existing sort setting on the hierarchy for the fix to take effect.
- Sort is reapplied at every level 1:03
With nested sort active, collapsing and expanding the hierarchy makes Tableau reapply the sort at each level as it's revealed, so subcategories are always ordered correctly within their category.
- Why it matters for users 1:21
This keeps interaction smooth for end users of a dashboard: they don't have to manually re-sort the view themselves every time they expand a hierarchy, which makes the visualisation more pleasant to use.
- Nested sorting is only available from Tableau 2019.1 onwards, not in earlier versions.
- A standard sort only fixes the top-level order; it silently leaves lower levels of the hierarchy unsorted, which is easy to miss until you expand.
Reach for nested sort whenever you have a drillable hierarchy (like category/subcategory) in a view and want the sort order to hold at every level as users expand and collapse, rather than requiring them to re-sort it themselves.
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