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WJ Post Order (Drag & Drop)

Drag-and-drop post ordering plugin for WordPress. Saves to menu_order and applies frontend ordering.

by WebJIVE · github.com/webjive/wj-post-order

★ 0stars

Install

Download source zip No release zip yet

This is the repository archive. It installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow.

Install straight from GitHub with WP-CLI:

wp plugin install https://github.com/webjive/wj-post-order/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
No built-in updater. New versions won't appear under Dashboard → Updates. Install new releases yourself, or let Git Updater track the repository.
Readme github.com/webjive/wj-post-order ↗

A lightweight WordPress plugin that adds drag-and-drop post ordering to the admin. Saves order to the built-in menu_order field and automatically applies it on the frontend — including Divi and other secondary queries.

Features

  • Drag & Drop Reorder Page: Dedicated Posts > Reorder screen with a clean drag-and-drop list
  • Inline List Table Ordering: Drag rows directly on the standard All Posts / All CPTs admin screen — no separate page required
  • Frontend Auto-Apply: Archives and loops respect menu_order automatically, including Divi modules and secondary WP_Query instances
  • Custom Post Type Support: Enable ordering for any public CPT from the settings page
  • menu_order Native Storage: Uses WordPress's built-in menu_order column — no custom tables, no extra metadata
  • Per-Query Opt-Out: Set 'wjpo_no_sort' => 1 on any query to skip automatic ordering
  • Zero Dependencies: Ships as a single PHP file with no external libraries

Requirements

  • WordPress 5.0 or higher
  • PHP 7.4 or higher
  • User role: edit_posts (for reordering), manage_options (for settings)

Installation

  1. Upload the wj-post-order folder to /wp-content/plugins/
  2. Activate the plugin via Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Go to Settings > WJ Post Order to choose which post types are orderable

Usage

Reorder Screen

Navigate to Posts > Reorder (or the equivalent for any enabled CPT). Drag items into the desired order and click Save Order.

Inline List Table

On the standard All Posts screen, drag the ⋮⋮ handle next to any post. Order saves automatically on drop.

Frontend Ordering

With Auto-apply on Frontend enabled (default), all archives and loops for enabled post types will be ordered by menu_order ascending, with date descending as a tiebreaker.

To skip auto-ordering on a specific query:

$query = new WP_Query([
    'post_type'    => 'post',
    'wjpo_no_sort' => 1,
    // ... your own orderby
]);

Settings

Go to Settings > WJ Post Order to:

  • Choose which public post types support drag-and-drop ordering
  • Toggle frontend auto-apply on or off

File Structure

wj-post-order/
├── wj-post-order.php   # Main plugin file
├── README.md
└── LICENSE

How It Works

The plugin hooks into pre_get_posts at priority 999. On the frontend it sets orderby => ['menu_order' => 'ASC', 'date' => 'DESC'] on any query that:

  • Belongs to an enabled post type
  • Has not opted out via wjpo_no_sort

Page builders like Divi pass orderby => 'date' in their module queries (the WordPress default). The plugin overrides this so that saved ordering is respected in Divi loops, Blog modules, and other secondary queries. Use wjpo_no_sort => 1 on any query that genuinely needs a different sort order.

Order is persisted via wp_update_post() with a direct database fallback ($wpdb->update) for environments that skip standard WP hooks (e.g., custom table prefixes).

Security

  • All AJAX endpoints are nonce-verified and capability-checked
  • All output is escaped with esc_html() / esc_attr()
  • Post type and term inputs are sanitized via sanitize_key() / absint()
  • IDs are cast to integers before any database interaction

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later — see the LICENSE file for details.

Author

WebJIVE — https://www.web-jive.com

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Changelog

Version 1.3.2

  • Fix: frontend ordering now applies inside Divi's AJAX-filtered grids/modules (previously is_admin() returned true for admin-ajax.php requests, causing the hook to skip Divi's filterable module queries entirely)

Version 1.3.1

  • Fix: frontend ordering now applies to Divi Blog/Portfolio modules and other page builder queries that pass an explicit orderby parameter (previously the plugin skipped these queries)

Version 1.3.0

  • Add "Apply Custom Post Order" checkbox to nav menu items (Appearance > Menus)
  • Checkbox enables menu_order ordering per post type archive, independent of the global toggle

Version 1.2.4

  • Initial public release
  • Drag-and-drop reorder screen for Posts and CPTs
  • Inline list table ordering with auto-save on drop
  • Frontend auto-apply via pre_get_posts
  • Settings page for post type selection and frontend toggle
  • Direct DB fallback for menu_order updates