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16 Sept 2019

Sort files and folders

Topics Working with the Files module
Product Filter HighQ Collaborate
Product Area Filter Files

Users with the appropriate permissions (Site and Content administrators and users with Folder Admin rights) can control the order of how files and subfolders appear within the Files module.

 

To sort the files and subfolders within a specific folder, click on the folder actions menu and navigate to More Actions > Edit Details:

The Edit folder screen is displayed.

Navigate to the Settings tab and click Edit custom sort:

The Custom Folder Sort screen will be displayed.

The sorting screen

Within this screen, users can drag and drop the folders within their folder into whatever order they want. Simply click on the folder you wish to move and drag it to the position you want the folder to be in.

Chronological sorting

Within the Edit Folder > Settings tab screen, users can click the Sort folders by drop down menu which is set to a default setting. Content ordered by creation date will always be sorted with the oldest file at the top of content lists and newest at the bottom. Creation date means the date and time the first version of a file or folder was added and will not be changed if the content is modified or if new versions are uploaded.

The Last modified option allows files to be sorted by the date the last file version was added. For folders, Last modified reflects any edits made to the folder name or other folder metadata.  When Last modified date is selected, sorting is done in descending order (from newest to oldest).

If the user selects Alphabetical sorting, the content will automatically be ordered in alphanumeric order. The order will be ascending, starting with content starting with numbers and then onto letters.

To set a custom order for the content, the user must click Custom from the drop-down menu, then click Edit custom sort. This displays the Custom folder/file sort page, as shown above. The user can then drag and drop to change the order of the content.

Custom sorting currently does NOT work on mobile devices.

After the user has finished changing the sort order, click Save. 

You will then be returned to the content view, which will reflect the new sorting options.

Other sorting options

Users can also sort files and folders by other metadata that may be enabled for the Files module such as author, but please note that folders will always be displayed above files. In the Column View, users can click a column header to sort the content by the information displayed in that column:

Ordering content like this can be done by any user with permission to view the content but it only applies to that user and this does not affect the default sorting options for that folder. If users navigate away from the current folder, their sorting selection will not be retained. Clicking the column once, sorts the content in descending order, indicated with a downward facing arrow. Clicking the column again sorts the column in ascending order, indicated with an upward facing arrow. Content can be sorted:
  • alphabetically by name
  • alphabetically by status
  • by file size
  • alphabetically by author name
  • by date and time it was last modified

If two pieces of content have the same value, such as the same modification date and time, then they will be sorted alphabetically within the content with the same value.

In the Column View, which is the preferred view for mobile devices, files and folders can be sorted using the drop-down View menu:

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Related Materials

Add a folder in Files

Move files and folders

Create folders in Files

Contents

  1. The sorting screen
    1. Chronological sorting
    2. Other sorting options