Is there a way to sort the top-level folders in AEM Assets?

[AkaneTo]

It is common to add folders after the environment has been set up.

However, at the top level of the Assets, folders can only be displayed in the order they were created. Reordering folders by related items or frequency of use would improve the convenience for authors. Is there a good way to achieve this?

[anupampat]

Hi @AkaneTo ,

Do you mean you want to re arrange folders under /content/dam ?

Check these - 

https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/adobe-experience-manager/aem-assets-default-sort/td...

https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/forums/messagehistorypage/board-id/adobe-experience...

Regards,

Anupam Patra

[AkaneTo]

Thank you for the info. Yes, I want to re arrange folders under  /content/dam. It is unfortunate that despite the demand likely being high, the situation has not improved since 2019.　Anyways, thank you for sharing the links.

[AmitVishwakarma · Accepted solution]

Hi @AkaneTo ,

You're right—this has been a long-standing request, but unfortunately, Adobe has not provided an out-of-the-box solution for reordering top-level folders in AEM Assets.

Potential Workarounds & Solutions

Since AEM does not support manual reordering at the top level, here are some approaches that may help:

1. Sorting in List View (End-User Solution)

     - In the List View, users can manually change the sorting order using the dropdown in the   top-right corner.
     - Available sorting options: Name, Last Modified, Created Date, Size, etc.
     - This method is user-specific and does not affect the global order.

2. Prefix Folder Names (Manual Workaround)

     - Since AEM sorts folders alphabetically, adding numbers or special characters can enforce a custom order.
     - Example:

01-Marketing
02-Sales
03-Design

     - This approach requires renaming folders, which might not be ideal.

3. Ordered Folders (Partial Solution)

     - When creating new folders, choosing the "Orderable" option allows manual sorting.
     - However, this only works for subfolders, not top-level folders.

4. Custom AEM Development (Technical Solution)

If a strict folder order is required, a developer can implement a custom sorting solution:

     - Overlay AEM UI: Modify the folder display component in /libs/dam/gui/content/assets/jcr:content/views/list.
     - Custom Query-Based Sorting: Create a servlet that retrieves /content/dam folders and sorts them based on:

          - A custom metadata property (sortOrder)
          - Last accessed timestamp
          - Usage frequency

     - Modify Asset Search or Navigation View to display folders in a desired order.

Regards,

Amit Vishwakarma

[Harwinder-singh]

@AkaneTo If the folders are created as ordered folders, then default alphabetical sorting will apply. 

[AkaneTo]

Thank you for your reply.

I know that you can set "Orderable" when creating a folder at the top-level, so you can sort the second-level and below. However, the top-level cannot be sorted.

[giuseppebag]

AEM Assets does not support the direct sorting of top-level folders out of the box (OOTB). However, you can achieve organized sorting by customizing the system or by using ordered subfolders to arrange your content. Keep in mind that customization requires technical expertise, and the effort involved can be considerable depending on your specific requirements.

[AkaneTo]

Thank you for your reply.

I'm not a developer. However, if a method exists, I would like to share the information with our developer. Is there any publicly available information on this matter?

[daniel-strmecki]

Hi @AkaneTo,

each user can choose the sort order in the top right, also I recommend using the Content Tree view on the left that is properly sorted by default.

Good luck,

Daniel

[AkaneTo]

Thank you for the advice. It is difficult to change the existing top-level path names, so perhaps we could assign serial numbers to the path titles to sort them in a meaningful order in the list view. It would have been ideal if this could be achieved in the column view.