Simple Custom Post Order

by colorlibplugins

Description

Simple Custom Post Order is the easiest way to manually sort your WordPress content using drag-and-drop functionality. Whether you’re managing blog posts, portfolio items, WooCommerce products, team members, testimonials, or any custom post type, this plugin gives you complete control over your content order.

Why Choose Simple Custom Post Order?

Zero Configuration – Works instantly after activation
Drag & Drop Interface – Intuitive sorting directly in your admin post lists
Universal Compatibility – Works with any post type and taxonomy
Lightweight & Fast – No bloat, minimal impact on site performance
Developer Friendly – Clean code with action hooks for customization

Key Features

Sort Any Content Type

Posts – Reorder your blog posts in any sequence you prefer
Pages – Organize pages beyond alphabetical or date order
Custom Post Types – Perfect for portfolios, team members, testimonials, products, events, FAQs, services, and more
WooCommerce Products – Manually sort products in your shop
Taxonomies – Reorder categories, tags, and custom taxonomies

Intuitive Admin Interface

Drag-and-drop sorting directly in the WordPress post list table
Visual feedback while reordering items
Changes saved automatically via AJAX – no page refresh needed
Works seamlessly with the default WordPress admin experience

Smart Query Integration

Automatically applies custom order to front-end queries
Respects custom orderby parameters when explicitly set
Does not interfere with search results (maintains relevance sorting)
Compatible with get_posts(), WP_Query, and standard loops

Reset & Restore

One-click reset to restore default ordering
Reset individual post types without affecting others
Useful when you need to start fresh with your content organization

Perfect For

Bloggers – Feature important posts at the top of your blog
Business Websites – Showcase key services or team members first
Portfolio Sites – Display your best work in a specific order
Online Stores – Highlight featured or seasonal products
Membership Sites – Organize course content or resources
News Sites – Pin important stories or announcements
Event Websites – Arrange events in your preferred sequence
Documentation Sites – Structure help articles logically

Use Cases

Portfolio Management
Arrange your portfolio items to showcase your best work first, group similar projects together, or create a visual narrative of your creative journey.

Team Page Organization
Display team members by hierarchy, department, or seniority rather than by when they were added to the system.

Product Highlighting
Feature seasonal items, bestsellers, or new arrivals at the top of your WooCommerce shop without relying solely on sorting by date or price.

Content Curation
Create curated reading lists by manually ordering posts in the exact sequence you want readers to discover them.

FAQ Organization
Sort frequently asked questions by importance or topic, ensuring the most relevant questions appear first.

Testimonial Display
Show your most compelling testimonials first to maximize their impact on potential customers.

Developer Features

Action Hooks

scp_update_menu_order – Fires after post order is updated
scp_update_menu_order_tags – Fires after taxonomy term order is updated

Filter Hooks

scpo_post_types_args – Modify which post types appear in settings

Advanced View Mode
Enable the advanced view in settings to see all registered post types, including those normally hidden from the admin menu.

Supported Post Types

Simple Custom Post Order works with:

WordPress Posts
WordPress Pages
WooCommerce Products
Easy Digital Downloads Products
Portfolio items (Jetpack, custom)
Team member post types
Testimonial post types
Event post types (The Events Calendar, etc.)
FAQ post types
Any custom post type with show_ui enabled

Supported Taxonomies

Categories
Tags
WooCommerce Product Categories
WooCommerce Product Tags
Custom taxonomies with show_ui enabled

How It Works

Install & Activate – Install the plugin from WordPress.org or upload manually
Configure – Go to Settings > SCPOrder and select which post types and taxonomies to enable
Reorder – Visit any enabled post type list and drag items to reorder
Done – Your custom order is automatically applied everywhere on your site

The plugin uses WordPress’s native menu_order field for posts and pages, and adds a term_order column for taxonomy terms. This approach ensures compatibility and data persistence.

Performance Optimized

Targeted cache invalidation (only clears cache for modified items)
Efficient database queries using prepared statements
Scripts loaded only on relevant admin pages
No front-end performance impact

Security First

All database queries use prepared statements
AJAX requests protected with nonce verification
Capability checks ensure only authorized users can reorder
Input sanitization on all user data

Additional Information

Support

For support questions, please use the WordPress.org support forum.

Bug Reports

Report bugs on our GitHub repository.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please submit pull requests to our GitHub repository.

Credits

This plugin is made with love by the team at Colorlib.

Installation

Automatic Installation

Log in to your WordPress admin panel
Go to Plugins > Add New
Search for “Simple Custom Post Order”
Click “Install Now” and then “Activate”
Go to Settings > SCPOrder to configure

Manual Installation

Download the plugin ZIP file
Log in to your WordPress admin panel
Go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
Choose the downloaded ZIP file and click “Install Now”
Activate the plugin
Go to Settings > SCPOrder to configure

Configuration

Navigate to Settings > SCPOrder
Check the boxes next to post types you want to enable sorting for
Check the boxes next to taxonomies you want to enable sorting for
Click “Update” to save your settings
Visit any enabled post type list to start reordering with drag-and-drop

Screenshots

Drag-and-drop reordering of posts in the admin list table
Drag-and-drop reordering of custom post types
Plugin settings page - select post types and taxonomies to enable

Faq

Does this plugin work with custom post types?

Yes! Simple Custom Post Order works with any custom post type that has show_ui enabled. This includes post types from popular plugins like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, Jetpack, and any custom post types you’ve created.

Will the custom order appear on my website’s front-end?

Yes, the custom order is automatically applied to all front-end queries for enabled post types. Your posts, pages, and custom content will display in your chosen order throughout your site.

Does it work with page builders like Elementor or Divi?

Yes, as long as the page builder uses standard WordPress queries, your custom order will be respected. Most major page builders are compatible.

Can I reset the order back to default?

Yes! Go to Settings > SCPOrder and use the “Reset Order” section at the bottom of the page. Select the post types you want to reset and click “Reset order”. This will clear the custom ordering for selected post types.

Does it affect search results?

No, the plugin automatically preserves WordPress’s relevance-based sorting for search results. Your search functionality will work exactly as expected.

Is it compatible with WooCommerce?

Yes, you can use Simple Custom Post Order to manually sort WooCommerce products, product categories, and product tags.

Will it slow down my website?

No, the plugin is highly optimized. It only loads scripts on relevant admin pages and uses efficient database queries. There is no impact on front-end performance.

Can multiple users reorder at the same time?

While technically possible, we recommend coordinating reordering activities to avoid conflicts. The last save wins if two users modify the same list simultaneously.

Does it work with multisite?

Yes, Simple Custom Post Order is compatible with WordPress multisite installations. Each site can have its own ordering configuration.

How do I reorder items?

Simply go to the post list for any enabled post type (Posts, Pages, Products, etc.), click and hold on a row, then drag it to the desired position. The new order is saved automatically.

Can I programmatically override the custom order?

Yes, if you explicitly set orderby and order parameters in your custom queries, those will take precedence over the plugin’s custom order.

Reviews

Not working

By whitedd on November 25, 2025

Plugin not working and support dont answer.

Works - sort of

By pastorjim on November 12, 2025

The plugin allows simple reordering of posts as advertised. But in the Premium Theme I'm using, Ashe Pro, the widget that displays latest posts seems unaffected. It still shows posts in their date order. So I won't be using this plugin until I can figure out how to fix this -if it's possible.

Perfect little plugin

By yudayuda on September 5, 2025

Has all the required features, and does a great job.

Plugin with all qualities, bravo!!!

By mengeco on July 8, 2025

This plugin has it all: efficient, discreet, and highly configurable. It allows you to reorganize everything on the site, unlike other plugins that are limited to pages or articles.

And this plugin is essential for any content that needs to be manually and intuitively categorized.

I hope it will be updated for a long time.

A huge thank you to the developer!

Works great but for some reason adds is_search() warning when debug enabled

By asandco on June 28, 2025

The error was triggered because conditional query tags like is_search() don't work before the main query is established,
but the plugin was trying to use it during pre_get_posts which runs before the query flags are properly set.

Great plugin but the win here is on their support

By Bodhi McGee (totalwpsupport) on June 23, 2025

Ive been using this plugin for a year or two now and its been great on a few sites ive installed it on for the sites i manage for Total WP Support. A serious issue was reported to me however by a client and it was that the custom sort order was affecting the default search in wordpress, skewing the results and making the search inaffective. I reported the issue to the plugin authors and they fixed and released a new updated version of the plugin in a very respectable turn around time. I just updated the plugin and tested and it is indeed resolved! I couldnt be happier with this plugin and support team. For a free plugin to boot. Thank you Colorlib team!!!!!!

Works beautifully

By DigitalGdn (bkno) on May 3, 2025

Very nice and the UI is perfectly minimal. Very user friendly.

To order a custom WP_Query I just removed order and orderby parameters.

Doesn't support custom post types as it says

By john_6x6 (John_6x6) on February 25, 2025

Doesn't work for JetEngine custom post types. It doesn't change order on the frontend.

Very useful!

By manuabi on January 4, 2025

The functionality is super fast. It also works with posts and taxonomies. One major improvement would be in the plugin description, on how to use it in a WP_Query, get_posts() or get_terms(). For some it is not clear how to use it in the code. You just need to add 'order_by' => 'menu_order', in the query parameters. Complement in 'order' => 'ASC'.

Thank you (-;

By holgerhubbs on December 3, 2024

I really appreciate free quality plugins.

Changelog

2.6.0 – 2026-01-09

Settings Page Overhaul

Complete rewrite using WordPress Settings API for native admin experience
Replaced custom toggle switches with standard WordPress checkboxes
Removed 100+ lines of custom CSS – now uses native WordPress admin styles
Improved accessibility with proper ARIA roles and screen reader text
Settings now integrate seamlessly with WordPress core admin UI
Added “Settings” link to plugin action links on the Plugins page

Security Enhancements

Fixed potential SQL injection vulnerabilities with prepared statements
Added proper output escaping (XSS prevention) throughout the plugin
Improved input sanitization for all user data
Added nonce escaping in JavaScript contexts

Performance Improvements

Replaced blanket cache flushing with targeted cache invalidation
Only affected posts/terms have their cache cleared after reordering
Reduced unnecessary database operations

PHP 8.4 Compatibility

Added type declarations to all class methods
Fixed null safety issues for PHP 8.1+
Added explicit property declarations
Minimum PHP version now 7.4

Code Quality

Converted to modern PHP syntax (short arrays, spaceship operator)
Replaced loose comparisons with strict comparisons
Removed legacy French comments and TODO markers
Fixed code formatting issues
Improved AJAX responses with proper JSON structure

Bug Fixes

Fixed potential fatal error when get_current_screen() returns null
Fixed reset order JavaScript to handle JSON responses correctly
Fixed TypeError when plugin options are not yet set (fresh installs)

2.5.11 – 2025-06-23

Deactivated custom sort order on search results pages

2.5.10 – 2024-12-04

Fix Notice: _load_textdomain_just_in_time

2.5.9 – 2024-11-29

Allow editors to change posts order

2.5.8 – 2024-10-10

Security update

2.5.7 – 2023-09-20

Security update fixing multiple issues
Code cleanup for better performance

2.5.6 – 2021-05-27

Changed: Revert to 2.5.4

2.5.5 – 2021-05-11

Changed: Code cleaning
Changed: Allow custom orderby in Block Preview

2.5.4 – 2021-03-05

Changed: Improved performance

2.5.3

Modified deprecated jQuery functions

2.5.2

Modified deprecated jQuery function for WordPress 5.5 compatibility
Fixed an issue where posts would be in reverse order after resetting

2.5.1

Improved fix for post list table width when sorting is enabled
Fixed admin AJAX overriding queries

2.5.0

Fixed post list table width when sorting is enabled
Review dismiss fix

2.4.9

Fixed “Post order not saving”

2.4.8

Added ability to reset order for post types

2.4.7

Fixed undefined index when ordering terms
Added filter for post types args shown in settings page
Added extra option for advanced view of post types

2.4.6

Removed dashboard news widget

2.4.5

Added action hooks for update_menu_order_tags and update_menu_order
Fixed issue with sorting
Fixed edit page layout when no items found

2.4.4

Fixed slow JavaScript in admin
Fixed database error

2.4.3

Minor UI update with toggles

2.4.2

Fixed potential bug with other plugins
Fixed table breaking on reordering when Yoast SEO installed

2.4.1

Fixed translations

2.4.0

Optimized database queries

2.3.9

Added button to dismiss admin notice

2.3.8

Fixed white screen issue

2.3.7

Fixed white screen issue

2.3.6

Bug fixes

2.3.5

Bug fixes

2.3.4

Removed deprecated function “screen_icon”

2.3.2

Minor documentation and readme tweaks

2.3

Fixed major bug on taxonomy and post order

2.2

Fixed bug: Custom query order/orderby parameters now take precedence
Improved parameter handling
Removed taxonomy sort (re-added in later versions)

2.1

Prevent breaking autocomplete

2.0

Fixed undefined notice error in WordPress 3.7.1
Taxonomy activate checkbox removed

1.5

Bug fixes
Added taxonomy sort
Added taxonomy sort option in settings

1.0

Initial release