Default Explore/Drill Sort (Order By) Behavior

Last Tested: March 15, 2021

In the explore and drill menus, Looker chooses a default field to sort on:

1. The first date dimension, descending. If no date dimension exists...

2. The first measure, descending. If no measure exists...

3. The first added dimension (ascending)

As of Looker 4.10, these defaults cannot be edited for either the explore or drill menu.

There is a feature request at https://feedback.us.pendo.io/app/#/case/17670.

If you're interested in a workaround, see an example using the liquid link variable below:

  measure: returned_count {    type: count_distinct    sql: ${id} ;;    filters: {      field: is_returned      value: "yes"    }    drill_fields: [detail*]    link: {label: "Explore Top 20 Results" url: "{{    returned_count._link}}&sorts=order_items.sale_price+desc&limit=20" }  }