Reorder Posts with Meta Box - Including Hierachical Post Types

In the real world, not every post should be shown in chronological order by default. Sometimes, you need to:

• Show featured posts at the top for better visibility
• Arrange courses in a specific learning path
• Organize project portfolios based on client priority
• Display product lists based on popularity or relevance

That's why many users have turned to third-party plugins just to reorder posts. But these solutions can be clunky, lack support for hierarchical post types like pages, or require extra configuration. We even had a guide on how to manually reorder posts. But now, there’s a better way.

Along with the new UI for the MB Builder, we’ve just added native support for sorting post types - even hierarchical ones directly in the WordPress admin. Whether you’re creating structured content or simply want more control over how your posts appear, this new feature lets you drag and drop posts with ease.

This feature is integrated into the MB Custom Post Types extension, so it’s available whether you're using Meta Box Lite or Meta Box AIO.

You now have full control to manage the order of posts in any post type effortlessly, visually, and without touching a single line of code or installing other plugins. Best of all, it’s completely free and doesn’t affect your site’s performance.

Post Reordering in Meta Box

To have the order post feature, go to Meta Box > Post Types. On the screen of Add or Edit Post Type, there is a new tab on the screen named Features.

In there, just enable the Re-Order Posts feature to sort the posts by dragging and dropping.

After saving, on the post type admin screen, you can see the Re-Order tab; just go there and change the order of the posts.

If your post type supports parent-child relationships (hierarchical), you can even organize posts into nested structures. Just make sure to enable the Hierarchical option in the Advanced tab when creating or editing your post type.

Once enabled, you’ll be able to create parent-child relationships simply by dragging a post under another - no need to open each post and assign a parent manually.

Note: When reordering, you can even drag a parent post to a new position, and its child posts will follow along. It works just like with a field group Meta Box: the subfields stay together!

Then, on the frontend, the posts are shown following the order you set exactly.

Comparison with Other Reorder Posts Plugins

Many plugins help you change the display order of posts, but when it comes to hierarchical post types, most fall short. Below are two popular options that people often turn to.

Post Types Order

Post Types Order is a well-known plugin in the WordPress ecosystem. It allows you to reorder posts using a drag-and-drop interface in the admin panel. Many users have praised it for being free, simple, and effective, even for showing ordered posts on the frontend without custom code.

Pros

• Supports all post types: Works with standard posts, pages, and custom post types.
• Works well on the frontend: Ordered posts appear correctly without additional coding.

Cons

• No hierarchical (parent-child) reordering: You can only reorder posts at the same level.
• Manual setup needed: Must enable ordering per post type in settings.

Simple Custom Post Order

This plugin is designed to be simple and lightweight. It works by enabling drag-and-drop sorting across posts, pages, and custom post types.

Pros

• Minimal interface with easy setup
• Enable reordering posts
• No need to configure extra screens
• Lightweight

Cons

• Doesn’t support hierarchical post types

Post Types Order and Simple Custom Post Order,... are helpful when you just need a quick, straightforward way to reorder flat lists of posts, like arranging blog articles, testimonials, or portfolios.

However, in cases where your content is more structured, such as:

• Courses divided into modules and lessons
• Locations grouped by province, district, and ward
• Team structure with departments and roles
• And more

These plugins don’t support reordering within hierarchical structures. They can’t maintain relationships when dragging items, making it hard to manage nested data. That’s where Meta Box stands out. It allows you to:

• Reorder posts with drag and drop
• Maintain parent-child relationships visually
• Keep the structure consistent both in the admin and on the frontend

Even better, if you're already using Meta Box, you don’t need to install anything new, just update to the latest version, and the feature is ready to go.

Last Words

Each plugin has its own strengths, but if you’re looking for a seamless way to reorder posts, especially hierarchical ones, Meta Box has you covered. It’s built-in, easy to use, and ready whenever you need it. Let’s give it a try!