Sort by Any Field

Applies to: Jira Cloud (Forge app)

Purpose

Jira’s native board and backlog views are constrained to a single ordering dimension: rank. Teams that need to visualize work items by priority, due date, story points, or any other field are forced to modify the board filter’s ORDER BY clause — which disables Jira’s ranking system entirely.

This creates a false tradeoff: either maintain manual drag-and-drop ranking, or sort by the field that matters for today’s planning session. You cannot have both.

Sort by Any Field eliminates that constraint. The product re-ranks work items in the background using Atlassian Forge queues, applying your chosen sort order while preserving Jira’s native ranking model. The result is a correctly ordered board that still supports manual drag-and-drop adjustments — no filter modifications, no ranking conflicts, no broken board configurations.

Key Capabilities

Sort by Any Field — Including Custom Fields

Sort boards, backlogs, and sprints by any Jira field: built-in fields like priority, status, due date, and assignee, or custom fields like story points, business value, or cascading selects. If Jira exposes it in JQL, Sort by Any Field can order by it.

Compound Sort Expressions

Define multi-level sort orders using standard JQL ORDER BY syntax. For example, ORDER BY priority DESC, "Story Points" DESC, Rank ASC sorts by priority first, then by story points within each priority tier, with rank as a tiebreaker. No UI limitations on sort complexity.

Preserve Native Ranking

Unlike filter-based sorting approaches, Sort by Any Field modifies the underlying rank values rather than overriding the board filter. This means Jira’s ranking system remains fully functional — drag-and-drop reordering works immediately after a sort completes, with no “Ranking is disabled” warnings.

Asynchronous Background Execution

Sort operations execute asynchronously via Atlassian Forge queues. Large backlogs with hundreds or thousands of work items are processed reliably without browser timeouts or UI freezes. The sort dialog provides real-time progress updates, and you can close the modal and return later to check status.

Persistent Sort Configurations

Sort expressions are stored per scope — board, backlog, sprint, or space. Once configured, the same sort order can be re-applied with a single click. Teams can establish standard sort configurations for recurring planning ceremonies without reconfiguring each time.

Multi-Scope Support

Sort by Any Field operates across all Jira project types:

Software projects — Scrum boards, Kanban boards, backlogs, and sprint views.
Business projects — Team-managed boards and spaces, accessible directly from the space navigation bar.

Deployment Model

Sort by Any Field is deployed as an Atlassian Forge application. It runs on Atlassian’s infrastructure with no external servers, no data egress, and no self-hosted components.

Installation: Available via the Atlassian Marketplace.
Authentication: Uses Atlassian’s native permission model. Users require the “Schedule Issues” permission to execute sort operations.
Data Residency: Fully compliant with Atlassian’s data residency controls. No data leaves your Atlassian tenant.

Getting Started

Setup — Install the product, verify board filter configuration, and grant the required permissions.
User Guide — Configure sort expressions, execute sorts, and integrate the product into your planning workflow.