Ultimate Guide to Filtering and Sorting Collection Lists in Webflow

When it comes to managing the content on your Webflow site, Collection Lists are a powerful tool. They allow you to create dynamic content from your CMS Collections and display it on your site in various ways. However, as your content grows, so does the need for organization. That's where filtering and sorting come in. In this guide, we will explore how to effectively filter and sort Collection Lists in Webflow to make managing your site's content easier and more efficient.

The Challenge: Sorting Through the Chaos

Collection Lists are incredibly versatile. They can be used for images, blog posts, articles, and virtually any other type of dynamic content. But when you have a large amount of content, finding specific items can become a challenge. The default setting displays the first 100 items in a Collection, but what if you need to find a specific item or sort the items in a particular way?

The Solution: Filtering and Sorting Collection Lists

The key to managing your Collection Lists effectively lies in the power of filtering and sorting. These features allow you to specify which items to display in a Collection List and in what order. Whether you want to show only featured blog posts, exclude the current blog post from a list, or show related content, filters and sorting can help you achieve it.

Adding Filters to a List

Filtering allows you to show specific Collection items in a list that match the filter(s) you create. Here's how you can create a filter:

Select the Collection List you want to filter
Go to the Settings panel (D)
Add a Filter under Collection list settings by clicking on the plus (+) sign
Select the field you want to filter by in the first dropdown
Choose a rule in the second field
Specify a value if needed
Click Save

You can add as many filters as you want. The filters will be combined by an AND operator, meaning the items displayed will match all of the specified filters.

Sorting Collection Lists

Sorting allows you to order your Collection Lists based on a specific field. Here's how you can sort a list:

Select the Collection List you want to sort
Go to the Settings panel (D)
Add a Sort Order under Collection list settings by clicking on the plus (+) sign
Select the field you want to sort by in the first dropdown
Choose a rule in the second field (e.g., ascending or descending)
Click Save

With sorting, you can easily order your Collection Lists in a way that makes sense for your site and your users.

Using MixItUp for Advanced Filtering and Sorting

For more complex filtering and sorting needs, you can leverage the power of the MixItUp plugin. MixItUp is a high-performance, dependency-free library that provides advanced UI animations and multi-filtering. You can find a detailed tutorial on how to use MixItUp with dynamic content in Webflow on the MixItUp Webflow tutorial page.

Sorting and filtering Collection Lists in Webflow can greatly enhance your content management capabilities. By understanding and utilizing these features, you can better organize your dynamic content and improve your site's usability. Happy sorting and filtering!

Pro Tip: Leverage CMS Collection Field for Tailored Filtering

Here's a pro tip that can take your filtering game to the next level. Let's say you've got a blog and you want to filter posts based on their popularity. Instead of manually moving items around or making multiple collections, you can create a custom field in your CMS Collection for 'popularity'.

Go to your CMS Collection settings
Click on 'Add new field'
Select the number field and name it 'Popularity'
For each of your blog posts, assign a popularity rating from 1-10

Now, you can use this custom field to apply advanced filters in your Collection Lists. For example, you might want to create a special list that only displays blog posts with a popularity rating of 7 or above. To do this, you'd simply create a filter for 'Popularity is greater than 6'. This gives you more control over your content display and can improve your site's user experience.

Remember, this technique isn't just for blogs or popularity ratings – it's a versatile tip that you can adapt to fit any kind of content that you want to filter in a specific way. Just think about what kind of custom fields could give you more granular control over your content display, and start experimenting!