3 Ways to Reorder Drupal Fields

re-ordering-fields

With all the software we teach, some tasks almost always confuse beginners.

With Drupal, re-ordering fields is one of those confusing tasks.

Learning how to re-order Drupal fields is easy. You can re-order fields using an easy drag-and-drop interface.

What’s confusing is learning where to re-order fields.

By default, there are 3 ways to re-order Drupal fields and none of them are easily marked.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you both how and where to re-order your fields.

The 3 Ways to Re-order Drupal Fields

Go to Structure > Content types > Manage fields.

You’ll be able re-arrange the fields using the cross symbols on the left.

In this example, we’ve re-arranged our Article fields so that the order is Title, Tags, Image, Body.

media_1364307547453.png

When you click on Add content, you’ll now see that the fields are ordered as you arranged them: Title, Tags, Image, Body.

media_1364307718297.png

However, when you save the article, the order isn’t how you set it up. The order is now Title, Image, Body, Tags.

media_1364307737456.png

So what happened?

The confusion arises because the “Manage Fields” tab only controls the submission form.

To re-order how your fields appear to visitors, go to Structure > Content types > Manage display.

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The Manage display area here is where you can re-order how your fields appear to visitors.

Change the order to Tags, Image, Body …

media_1364307813179.png

… and that order will show to your visitors as in the image below.

However, note that you can’t change the Title. To do that, you would need to use a technique like this to replace the default Title field with fields that you create.

media_1364307837818.png

Note also that the change we made in the Manage display area doesn’t change the order of fields on the frontpage or blog pages. On those pages, the order remains Image, Body, Tags.

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To change the order of fields on the frontpage or blog pages, go to Structure > Content types > Manage display and click the Teaser tab in the top-right corner.

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Recap

So, a quick summary of how to re-order fields in Drupal:

  • Re-order fields on the submission form: Structure > Content types > Manage fields
  • Re-order fields on a page where one article is shown: Structure > Content types > Manage display
  • Re-order fields when a multiple articles are shown: Structure > Content types > Manage display > Teaser

If you need more control over the order and layout of your fields, consider using Display Suite. We have a tutorial and full training class on how to use Display Suiite.

Author

  • Steve Burge

    Steve is the founder of OSTraining. Originally from the UK, he now lives in Sarasota in the USA. Steve's work straddles the line between teaching and web development.

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Road Runner
Road Runner
11 years ago

For even greater control you might investigate Display Suite.

Rodolfo
Rodolfo
11 years ago

Hi
I cannot see the crosses next to each field. How can I make them visible so that I can reorder them more easily?
Thanks.

wellwisher
wellwisher
10 years ago
Reply to  Rodolfo

Hi Rodolfo. You can see a link ‘show row weights’ on manage fields/display page. Once you click that it changes to ‘hide row weights’ link
Then assign lowest number for that field which should come first in order. And higher numbers for those fields which should appear next to each previous field.
Remember to Click Save button.

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