CollabPortals

Default Sort

Pick the field and direction records are sorted by when a portal table first loads. Users can still re-sort manually.

Overview

Every table in a portal can carry a default sort: a field and a direction (ascending or descending) that decides the order rows appear in when the table first loads for an end user. The default is "No default sort", which shows records in the order the Airtable API returns them.

Use a default sort when the natural reading order of a table is obvious (recent first, alphabetical by name, due-date ascending) and you want that order to happen without the user having to click a column header.

Setting a Default Sort

  1. 1

    Open the table's Display tab

    In the portal admin, open the role you want to configure, open the table's page, and switch to the Display tab. The "Default Sort" section is there, below the view layout and the record name. (Table permissions and the record filter are on the Access tab.)

  2. 2

    Pick a field

    Use the "Sort by" dropdown to choose which field to sort on. Every field on the table is offered, whatever its permissions, apart from button fields, which hold an action rather than a value Airtable can be sorted on.

  3. 3

    Pick a direction

    Pick "Ascending (A-Z)" or "Descending (Z-A)". The exact meaning depends on the field type:

    • Text fields: alphabetical
    • Numbers, currency, percent, rating: smallest first (asc) or largest first (desc)
    • Dates: oldest first (asc) or newest first (desc)
    • Single select: order of the defined options

Sort settings save with the rest of the portal configuration. The next time an end user loads the table, records come back in the order you picked.

User-Initiated Sorting

A default sort is only the starting order. End users can still click a column header in the portal to re-sort the table, in either direction, and their choice never overwrites the default you set. Which headers respond depends on whether you turned on filter and sort controls. With them on, only the fields you listed as sortable are clickable, and the sort runs across the whole table. With them off, a header reorders the page on screen and no further.

Columns holding a list of values cannot be sorted from a header. With the controls off that is decided per column as the table renders, so it always holds; with them on it follows the sortable-field list you pick from, which the MCP connector can bypass because it does not check field types.

A Group by changes this again, on the tables where it actually takes effect. With the controls off it removes header sorting altogether, because grouping fixes the row order and there is nothing local left to reorder. With them on sorting keeps working, since it is re-run on the server, and it reorders rows within each group rather than reordering the groups themselves. What fixes the order of the groups is on View Types, and so is the size at which a table stops grouping: past it the table falls back to an ungrouped, paginated view and sorts from its headers as usual.

Whether their choice survives a reload depends on the filter and sort controls. With them on, the sort is written into the page address, so a refresh keeps it and the URL can be shared. With them off, it is held in the page only, and a refresh, navigating away and back, or logging in again puts the table back to your default.

Removing a Default Sort

Open the Default Sort section on the Display tab and set the "Sort by" dropdown back to "No default sort". Records will appear in the Airtable API's natural order on the next load.

Tips

  • Pair with record filtering. A filtered table usually has a natural sort order too. Setting both at once saves your users clicks.
  • Per role. Each role has its own default sort. A staff role might default to "oldest first" for triage while a client role defaults to "newest first".
  • Sorting by the name field is common. Sorting on whichever field titles the record gives an alphabetical list that matches how users think about their own data. See Record Name.

Next Steps

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Summary Fields and Record Detail
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Record Name