WP Manifestindependent plugin directory
manifest / builders / wj-post-order

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
0forks

Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/webjive/wj-post-order/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
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