WP Term Order

Sort taxonomy terms, your way.

WP Term Order allows users to order any visible category, tag, or taxonomy term numerically, providing a customized order for their taxonomy terms.

Installation

• Download and install using the built in WordPress plugin installer.
• Activate in the "Plugins" area of your admin by clicking the "Activate" link.
• No further setup or configuration is necessary.

Demo

FAQ

Does this create new database tables?

No. There are no new database tables with this plugin.

Does this modify existing database tables?

Yes. The wp_term_taxonomy table is altered, and an order column is added. Deactivating the plugin preserves that column and its ordering data. Deleting the plugin through WordPress removes the column and the plugin's database version option from each site. Existing term metadata, including values written by this plugin, is preserved because the generic order key may be shared with other plugins.

Can I query and sort by order?

Yes. Use it like:

$terms = get_terms( array(
	'taxonomy'   => 'category',
	'depth'      => 1,
	'number'     => 100,
	'parent'     => 0,
	'orderby'    => 'order', // <--- Looky looky!
	'order'      => 'ASC',
	'hide_empty' => false,

	// Try the "wp-term-meta" plugin!
	'meta_query' => array( array(
		'key' => 'term_thumbnail'
	) )
) );

For a supported taxonomy, an explicit orderby value of order is always honored. To preserve a different ordering for one query while leaving WP Term Order enabled for its taxonomy, pass wp_term_order_override as false:

$terms = get_terms( array(
	'taxonomy'              => 'category',
	'orderby'               => 'name',
	'wp_term_order_override' => false,
) );

The wp_term_order_taxonomy_override_orderby_supported filter controls only the implicit override of WordPress's default term-name ordering. It does not disable an explicit orderby value of order.

Can terms be ordered differently for each post?

Yes. Categories and tags support per-post ordering automatically. For a custom taxonomy, opt in with the object-ordering filter:

add_filter( 'wp_term_order_object_taxonomy_supported', function( $supported, $taxonomies ) {
	return in_array( 'genre', $taxonomies, true ) ? true : $supported;
}, 10, 2 );

The post editor adds an order panel for each supported taxonomy. WordPress stores that order in wp_term_relationships.term_order, so no additional table or post metadata is required. Standard template functions such as get_the_terms() use the saved per-post order. For a direct object-term query, use WordPress's native term_order value:

$terms = wp_get_object_terms( $post_id, 'genre', array(
	'orderby' => 'term_order',
	'order'   => 'ASC',
) );

The wp_term_order_object_taxonomy_supported filter can enable or disable the feature for an individual taxonomy.

Where can I get support?

The WordPress support forums: https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-term-order/

Can I contribute?

Yes, please! The number of users needing more robust taxonomy term ordering is growing fast. Having an easy-to-use UI and powerful set of functions is critical to managing complex WordPress installations. If this is your thing, please help us out!