On a number of reports I have noticed that setting sort options through the tablix properties does not work. I choose the data I'd like to sort by (date) and set the option (Z to A), but the report still shows unsorted. Has anyone else seen this issue? I have read that updating the report xml to include the sort may be what needs to be done because the report builder does not preserve the changes made. Haven't gone down that road yet as I'm looking to see if there's a fix already identified.
Date Type Lead Name State distance Consultant ZIP State 1 Level Reason url
Those are the columns from the export with data filling each column. Can't give too much info because it shows phone numbers and addresses.
One option is to sort the data in your dataset. Then you can leave it and SSRS will honor that.
As the others mentioned, make sure you check the datatype so it's not trying to sort the dates as a string.
Set the sort priorities at the group level, not on the table or dataset properties.
You should never have to edit the XML to get this to work. This is a basic built-in feature that most reports use.