User Guide

Applies to: Jira Cloud (Forge app)

Overview

Jira’s native ranking tools allow drag-and-drop ordering but make it difficult to visualize work items by other fields. Replacing the board filter’s sort clause often disables ranking and triggers the “Ranking is disabled…” warning. Sort by Any Field removes that limitation: it re-ranks work items in the background—via Atlassian Forge queues—so you can sort by any field (including custom columns) while retaining manual drag-and-drop at any time.

With Sort by Any Field you can:

Prioritize flexibly: Sort by priority, business value, due date, story points, or other custom metrics.
Highlight what matters: Reorder by status, assignee, or any field required for stand-ups and planning.
Stay agile: Drag work items to fine-tune the order immediately after an automated sort.
Avoid rank errors: The app modifies the existing rank without breaking Jira’s board configuration.

Prerequisites

Before running a sort:

Board filter must end with ORDER BY Rank ASC.
This ensures Jira exposes a stable rank that the sorter can adjust.
Users need the “Schedule Issues” permission. This is the label you’ll see in Jira’s permission scheme today, and it allows the app to re-rank items server-side.
License must be active.
Forge pages display a warning banner if the app isn’t licensed—ask an administrator to activate it first.

Using the App

1. Open the Sort dialog

Depending on the space type, launch the action labeled Sort Board, Sort Backlog, or Sort Sprint:

Software (Scrum/Kanban) – open the More actions menu (...) in the upper-right corner of the board, backlog, or sprint view, then choose the relevant Sort action.
Business spaces – a Sort Board entry lives directly in the space’s horizontal navigation bar.

2. Enter the JQL order clause

Inside the dialog, type your ORDER BY … expression, then choose Save. Examples:

ORDER BY priority DESC
ORDER BY "Story Points" DESC, Rank ASC
ORDER BY dueDate ASC, priority DESC

The clause is stored per scope (board, backlog, sprint, or space) and reused on future runs.

3. Run the sort

Press Sort to enqueue the job. The modal switches to a live status panel:

Running – background process is re-ranking work items; progress updates display processed/total counts.
Complete – success message appears; the notice auto-clears after a short delay (or you can dismiss it manually).
Error – any API or permission issue is surfaced so you can retry once resolved.

Once the job is enqueued, you may close the modal and return later to inspect the status.

4. Refresh Jira if needed

Most boards update automatically, but occasionally you may need to refresh the page or toggle between views to see the new order.

Tips

You can still drag work items manually after an automated sort—Forge only changes the underlying rank.
The saved ORDER BY clause is scoped to the current board/backlog/sprint or space; adjust each context once and reuse it instantly.
For more examples, visit the full user guide and Atlassian’s JQL documentation.