Quicker Way To Sort Category Items Online

[danscape]

I think there are a couple of drawbacks with the category pages that could be improved.

Firstly the sorting of the category could be better if it's different for each category. There are somewhere I'm happy to let the most popular be the sort order, but there are other categories where I want to sort them in a custom order. It seems like you can't set this specific to each category?

The main issue with the above though is how long it takes to organise the items in the category list. Each time I drag an item up or down the list it takes maybe 15-20 seconds for the page to reload until I can sort the next one. It's really slow and would benefit from either being able to sort the items in another screen so that the page doesn't need to reload each time, or being able to number the items to set an order perhaps.

[danscape]

Just after I posted I realised you can change the item order within the Category Screen and this updates the custom order for the category page.

It would still be nice to have this work quicker on the edit website screen but less of an issue having the above.

[tranguyen]

Hi @danscape, thank you for sharing this! Aside from being able to sort items in another screen, would a bulk action button help you with organising items in categories as well? I just want to get as much information as possible so I can flag this with the Product team. 

[danscape]

Hi,

I'm not sure how a bulk action would work for sorting items?

I think the main request would be to be able to set the default sorting order on each collection separately.

Dan

[StephenClose]

@tranguyenI also have questions about the ordering of Items in a Category.

1. I exported an Excel spreadsheet catalogue file from my dashboard
2. I edited this in Excel to add about 280 new items, filling in Name, SKU, Description and price.
3. I imported the spreadsheet to the dashboard library
4. I selected the items (in order) and added them from the library to the Site Items list.
5. I selected the new items (in order) and bulk edited them to add to a category
6. I edited each new item, to add a media image and set the shipping weight (shipping is calculated on weight). This Item list is in the correct order.
7. When I preview the site on a mobile phone, the items are displayed in a random(?) order.
8. Looking in the dashboard Site Categories > Edit Categories, I see the items are not displayed in the correct order.

I know I can re-order these by dragging the six dots on the left of each item in the list, but this will take me a long time! I still have many more Items and categories to build.

Do you know why the item list changes order, and is there a simpler way for me to set these back to the correct order?

[k_atie]

Hey @StephenClose, thank you for your detailed comment!

So I've just had a look into this for you, and it seems like the only way to reorder items on your website is to use the method you've described above; dragging the items using the 6 dots and reordering them manually. I can definitely see why this would be a tedious process though, especially if you have many items. I'll be sure to pass your comments over to our team. 

As for why the items changing order, I'm not too sure. Is the order of your items changing from how you inputted them into your excel sheet? Let me get into contact with our teams, they might have more information on why the order of your items is not appearing in the intended order. 

In the meantime, let me know if you need anything else! 

[StephenClose]

@k_atieThank you for picking this up.

The items were entered in the spreadsheet in the correct order, so I don't think that is it. Is it sorting on a hidden field, like the Token?

[k_atie]

Thank you for your patience @StephenClose and apologies for the delayed response. I just got word back from our team and they have confirmed that the items you import will be organized alphabetically, rather than in the order of the spreadsheet. The best way for you to organize them is through your Square Online Overview page and dragging them in the order you'd like. 

I can see why this feature would be useful to you through! I'll be sure to pass it over to our team.

Let me know if you need help with anything else!

[StephenClose]

@k_atieI just added more items from a catalogue spreadsheet import.

I can confirm that they are displayed in alphebetical order in the Dashboard Items Library.

Next I selected them to add Items to the e-commerce Item list, where they appear on the end of the last page in the pull-up page list.

I then edited each of the new items, in order, to set the weight and Category.

When I check the Category view, they are not in the correct order.

The order should be like 002, 003, 004, 0041, 005, 0051 and 006.

[k_atie]

@StephenClose It seems that the order of the items in your Square Dashboard doesn't sync over to the Square Online item inventory. I think the only way to re-arrange the order your items appear in would be to drag the items within the Edit Category page. 

Let me know if you have any other questions. 

[StephenClose]

@k_atieThank you for looking into this, I will have to put up with re-ordering the items by manually dragging each one, as described above. I am still populating my site and the next part will be a category with 476 items!

I have found the sorting easier if I leave the last few items with no image during the re-ordering, as a good visual indicator, to mark the demarcation between sorted and unsorted items in the list. I also only load and sort 60 items at a time.