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Sort by due date not working?

Liam La Fargue

I'm used to the cards in a column not automatically sorting, but now I can't even click and manually sort by due date. They are still all scattered by due date and it's seriously affecting my work.

First time this has happened, and I'm not seeing it associated with any known bug. Is it just mine? Anybody know of a fix?

Accepted answers

All comments

Lara Demir - Hipporello

Hi Liam,

Welcome to the community! It is definitely frustrating when a core organization tool like sorting stops working, especially if even the manual trigger isn't responding.

Since there isn't a global outage reported for sorting right now, this might be a specific "UI hang" on your board. Here are a few things you can try to fix it:

1. The "Force Refresh" (First Step):
Sometimes Trello’s local cache gets confused about card positions. Try a Hard Refresh by pressing Ctrl + F5 (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + R (Mac). This forces the browser to re-download the board state from Trello's servers.

2. Check for "Filtered" Views:
Do you have any filters active (keyboard shortcut "F")? If you are filtering by label or member, sometimes the sorting logic behaves unexpectedly because it's trying to manage hidden cards. Clear all filters and try sorting again.

3. Try the "Menu" Sort instead of the List Header:
Instead of clicking the list header (if you were doing that), try:

Clicking the three dots (...) at the top of the list.

Selecting Sort by...

Choosing Due Date.

Does it give you an error message, or does it simply do nothing?

4. The "Incognito" Test:
Open Trello in a Private/Incognito window. If sorting works there, it’s likely a browser extension (like an AdBlocker or a Trello-specific Power-Up) interfering with the script that handles card movement.

5. Check "Automation" Conflicts:
Do you have any Butler (Automation) rules that move cards based on due dates? Sometimes a background rule can "fight" against your manual sort, instantly moving cards back to their previous spots.

If none of these work: Could you please check if this is happening on all boards or just this specific one? If it's just one board, moving a card to a different list and back can sometimes "reset" the list's sorting index.

Let us know if the Incognito test reveals anything!

Liam La Fargue

Thank you! I'll try to understand this in a structured way. For some context, this is really the only board I use. I have been using it this way for years, and I've actually grown to depend heavily on it (which is why this issue is so disappointing). I track and complete specific projects based on their due date (which sometimes changes) and once I mark it as "done" it automatically moves over the the next list.

1. Tried this, still the same issue. Did the sort by due date again, it loads, then ends up exactly the same.

2. I do not use any filters, and am really the only user of the board. I've invited others in the past but they're not active.

3. While it normally sorts automatically (at least when I refresh) I do often have to use the Menu sort in order for them to update. Doing it now does nothing. No error message, it loads, then nothing.

4. Tried it, still all out of order.

5. I have no automation rules that move cards based on due dates. It's very simple - they sort by due date (which I have to do manually sometimes) and they move over to the "done" list when I mark them as completed.

One disclaimer is that I've been using this for years as mentioned, and I don't have any sort of professional Trello plan. I suppose it's possible that my little operation has begun to stretch the boundaries of basic Trello. I'd be perfectly happy to begin paying for a plan if that would fix it, as Trello certainly deserves some compensation from me...

Liam La Fargue

@Lara Demir - Hipporello do you have any response to my answer here? Still trying to find a fix and am absolutely stuck. Your answer is helpful I'm sure but doesn't actually solve my problem, so I wasn't sure whether or not to "accept" it. Sorry, new to community thing.

Lara Demir - Hipporello

Hi Liam,

Thank you for the detailed breakdown! Don't worry about "accepting" an answer yet—we want to make sure your board is actually working first.

Since you've ruled out browser issues and filters, and mentioned you've used this single board for years, we are likely looking at a data volume issue rather than a plan limitation. Even on the Free plan, sorting should work, but Trello lists can "choke" if they contain too many cards (active or archived).

Here is the most likely culprit and how to fix it:

The "Done" List Bloat: You mentioned cards move to a "Done" list automatically. If that list has hundreds (or thousands) of cards from over the years, Trello struggles to index the due dates for the whole board.

Action: Try Archiving all cards in your "Done" list (Click the three dots at the top of the "Done" list > Archive all cards in this list). This keeps the data in Trello but removes the processing load from the active board.

Board Limit Check: While there isn't a hard "card limit," performance degrades significantly once a board hits 1,000+ open cards.

Action: If you have many old cards sitting in various lists, archive them.

The "Template" Glitch: Sometimes a specific card gets "corrupted" and prevents the sort script from finishing.

Action: Create a brand new list on the same board, move 5-10 cards into it, and try to sort just that new list. If it works there, the issue is with your original list's data structure.

To answer your question about the Professional Plan: Upgrading to Standard or Premium is great for more Automations (Butler) and unlimited Power-Ups, but it won't necessarily fix a "stuck" UI sort if the board is overloaded with old data. I’d recommend trying the "Archive Done List" trick first before spending money!

Give that archive trick a shot—does the sorting respond any faster after clearing out the old completed tasks?

Oleksandr

Hi Liam,

Trello’s built-in sorting should still be available from the list menu: List actions - Sort by - Due date.

If that option is not reordering the cards correctly, I’d try a hard refresh, another browser, or disabling browser extensions to rule out a local issue. For a more reliable due-date workflow, you can also try the Board Assistant Power-Up:

https://trello.com/power-ups/685016dd47b5654ae385bba6

Raina Kirkland

Thank you @Lara Demir - Hipporello
I had to move one card from my current list and bring it back over to the same list to get the sort by due date to work again. It only affected one list on my board... So strange.

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