I'm assuming you are using the blue (datepart) pills and sorting them using the quick sort in Tableau v7? And from your description you are applying a quick sort to DAY(Date) and then collapsing the hierarchy so DAY(Date) is no longer in the view, then when expand the hierarchy again the sort is lost?

The quick sort feature is new in v7, and right now it's just a sort in the current state of the view. When you are adding and removing pills from the view such as by changing hierarchies, the quick sort settings are reset. I'd suggest you submit a feature request to Tableau if you really need this.

As for having a default sort, Tableau seems to always want to format dates left to right, top to bottom in ascending order, so it ignores whatever you try to set for a default sort order.

There is a workaround, though.  If you want to have a custom sort on date that changes, you can roll your own creating one or more calcs like YEAR([Date]), MONTH([Date]), etc., change them to dimensions and then setting the default sorts for those values. You can put those calcs into a hierarchy so it will work just like the hierarchy on other date fields.  See the attached for an example.

Jonathan

Hi Erling,

Another possible option (though maybe not ideal) in addition to Jonathan's is to set the Date field to be a discrete exact date. Place this on the rows shelf to the left of years, months, etc. Then, sort the exact date in Descending Order. Right click on the exact date pill and uncheck Show Header.  Now, clicking up and down in the hierarchy will be the same.

-Tracy