Sorting and ordering issue lists

You can sort a list of issues several ways. The available sorting options can change based on the context of the list.

Sorting by blocking issues

Introduced in GitLab 13.7.

When you sort by Blocking, the issue list changes to sort descending by the number of issues each issue is blocking.

Sorting by created date

When you sort by Created date, the issue list changes to sort descending by the issue creation date. Issues created most recently are first.

Sorting by due date

When you sort by Due date, the issue list changes to sort ascending by the issue due date. Issues with the earliest due date are first, and issues without a due date are last.

Sorting by label priority

When you sort by Label priority, the issue list changes to sort descending. Issues with the highest priority label are first, then all other issues.

Ties are broken arbitrarily. Only the highest prioritized label is checked, and labels with a lower priority are ignored. For more information, see issue 14523.

To learn how to change label priority, see Label priority.

Sorting by updated date

When you sort by Updated date, the issue list changes to sort by the time of a last update. Issues changed the most recently are shown first.

Manual sorting

Introduced in GitLab 12.2.

When you sort by Manual order, you can change the order by dragging and dropping the issues. The changed order persists, and everyone who visits the same list sees the updated issue order, with some exceptions.

Each issue is assigned a relative order value, representing its relative order with respect to the other issues on the list. When you drag-and-drop reorder an issue, its relative order value changes.

In addition, any time an issue appears in a manually sorted list, the updated relative order value is used for the ordering. So, if anyone drags issue A above issue B in your GitLab instance, this ordering is maintained whenever they appear together in any list.

This ordering also affects issue boards. Changing the order in an issue list changes the ordering in an issue board, and the other way around.

Sorting by milestone due date

When you sort by Milestone due date, the issue list changes to sort ascending by the assigned milestone due date. Issues with milestones with the earliest due date are first, then issues with a milestone without a due date.

Sorting by popularity

When you sort by Popularity, the issue order changes to sort descending by the number of upvotes (emoji reactions with the “thumbs up”) on each issue. You can use this to identify issues that are in high demand.

The total number of votes is not summed up. An issue with 18 upvotes and 5 downvotes is considered more popular than an issue with 17 upvotes and no downvotes.

Sorting by priority

When you sort by Priority, the issue order changes to sort in this order:

  1. Issues with milestones that have due dates, where the soonest assigned milestone is listed first.
  2. Issues with milestones with no due dates.
  3. Issues with a higher priority label.
  4. Issues without a prioritized label.

Ties are broken arbitrarily.

To learn how to change label priority, see Label priority.

Sorting by title

Introduced in GitLab 14.3.

When you sort by Title, the issue order changes to sort alphabetically by the issue title in this order:

  • Emoji
  • Special characters
  • Numbers
  • Letters: first Latin, then accented (for example, ö)

Sorting by health status

Introduced in GitLab 15.7.

When you sort by Health, the issue list changes to sort by the health status of the issues When in descending order, the issues are shown in the following order:

  1. At risk issues
  2. Needs attention issues
  3. On track issues
  4. All other issues

Sorting by weight

When you sort by Weight, the issue list changes to sort ascending by the issue weight. Issues with lowest weight are first, and issues without a weight are last.