Shopify Collection Sorting Changes: Navigating the New Manual Product Order

Hey everyone! As a Shopify expert and someone who spends a lot of time digging through community forums, I often see common pain points emerge when the platform rolls out updates. Recently, there's been a lot of chatter about changes to how we manually sort products within collections, and it's definitely caused some head-scratching for store owners who rely heavily on precise merchandising.

I stumbled upon a thread started by @Buska555 in the Shopify Community that perfectly captures this frustration. They highlighted a significant change: the ability to manually drag and drop products across different pages within a collection seems to have disappeared. Instead, the collection editor now limits you to sorting just 60 products per page, making it impossible to move items like sold-out products to the very end if your collection spans multiple pages. Buska555 rightly called this a "significant step backward" and "nonsense," which honestly, I can completely understand.

What Changed with Manual Collection Sorting?

Before this update, many of us were used to the flexibility of dragging a product from, say, page 1 to page 5 of a large collection. This was super handy for things like moving all your "sold out" items to the bottom, or giving a temporary boost to a specific product without having to meticulously count positions.

Now, when you select "Sort: Manually" in your collection editor, you'll notice that you can only reorder products within the current 60-product view. If you have 100 products, you can sort the first 60, but moving product 5 to position 90 is no longer a simple drag-and-drop affair. This directly impacts how many store owners manage their product presentation and curate their online storefronts.

The Community's Workaround: The 'Position' Tool

Luckily, the community is always quick to offer solutions, and @mastroke jumped in on the thread with a helpful workaround using Shopify's built-in Position tool. While Buska555 noted it feels more like a "downgrade than an improvement" (and I tend to agree on the convenience front), it does get the job done for managing product order across pages.

Let's break down how to use this tool effectively:

How to Use the Position Tool for Cross-Page Sorting

The Position tool allows you to assign a specific numerical position to one or more products, effectively moving them to the top, bottom, or any custom spot within your entire collection, regardless of page boundaries. Here's how you can do it:

1. Navigate to Your Collection: From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Collections and select the collection you want to sort.

2. Set Sorting to "Manually": Ensure your collection's sort order is set to "Manually." You'll find this option at the top right of the product list within the collection.

3. Select Products: Now, identify the products you want to move. You can select individual products by checking their boxes, or select multiple products at once. For example, if you want to move all sold-out products, you can filter your collection view to show only sold-out items, then use the "Select all" checkbox.

4. Access the "Position" Tool: Once you've selected your products, a bulk action bar will appear. Click on the "Position" button.

   

5. Choose Your Positioning Option: The Position tool offers a few options:

   • Top: Moves the selected products to the very beginning of your collection.

   • Bottom: Moves the selected products to the very end of your collection. This is super useful for those sold-out items!

   • Custom: This is where you can get precise. If you want to place a product (or a group of products) at a specific spot, select "Custom."

6. Enter Custom Position (if applicable): If you chose "Custom," a field will appear asking for the desired position. Enter the numerical order you want the product(s) to appear in. For instance, if you want a product to be the 10th item in a collection of 100 products, you'd enter "10."

   

   The screenshot shared by mastroke shows a field where you can input the position, and it also indicates the total number of products in your collection (e.g., "73 total products").

7. Apply Changes: Once you've selected your option or entered your custom position, confirm your choice to apply the changes.

While it's not the fluid drag-and-drop we were used to, the Position tool is currently the most effective way to manage product order beyond the 60-item page limit. It requires a bit more planning, especially when dealing with custom positions, as you'll need to know where you want items to land numerically.

It's clear that this update has ruffled some feathers, and the feedback from merchants like Buska555 is crucial. Changes like this, even if they're part of broader system improvements, can significantly impact daily workflows. My advice? Get familiar with the Position tool as your primary method for large collection sorting for now. And as always, if you feel strongly about the previous functionality, make sure to submit your feedback directly to Shopify. The platform often evolves based on what store owners need most.

Keep an eye on the community forums; we'll always share the latest workarounds and insights as Shopify continues to update its features. Happy merchandising!