Sort library files by date

[shannonsellars]

When will it be possible to sort the library from oldest to newest? It's time to clean out the library, yet there's no good way to do a batch delete of the older items. 

It's the same for campaigns. Why are we unable to sort/delete by date? And why only ten at a time? 

[William_A]

Hello @shannonsellars ,

You can sort the library by clicking on the column labeled "Date Added." If it sorts the opposite way, click it again to reverse it.

[shannonsellars]

Hi @William_A! 

Thank you for the quick reply. I just tried your solution and nothing happened. Do I have to be in the owner account to make things happen? I'm trying to do this from an account manger account. 

[William_A]

Hello @shannonsellars ,

If you can access the library, you can click either the Basic Info or Date Added columns to sort them ascending or descending. 

[shannonsellars]

For whatever reason I'm unable to make it happen. I've tried both our owner account and my manager account. I've also tried two separate browsers, Chrome and Firefox (both are current versions). What additional information can I provide to help troubleshoot the situation?

[William_A]

The only thing I can suggest in that case is to use the advanced search to set date ranges, and clear out enough files so that the system is able to do column sorting again.

[shannonsellars]

Thanks! Our library was roughly 70% full. I have the library down to 55% and still can't sort. I have a question that may or may not be helpful. Should the page still look like this?

Once upon a time, when changes were being rolled out, my account did seem to be updating right away. We caught it when I was part of a research focus group for Constant Contact and the researcher noticed that my edit tools hadn't been updated. Could something similar be happening here? I know I'm probably grasping at straws, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

[William_A · Accepted solution]

The issue seems tied more to the sheer amount of content, since we typically only see this behavior occur in account libraries with well over 1000 files in them. The Basic Info and Date Added columns should generally be light gray, and thus selectable for sorting.

If you're able to get your files to less than 1k, then it should allow you to sort as expected. Otherwise, you'd need to continue relying on the advanced search, or sorting them into smaller, more specific folders going forward.

I did make sure to mark your account as experiencing the described issue, so if and when the devs have an update for it they'll notify you directly.

[shannonsellars]

Thanks, William_A!

This makes a lot of sense. I've inherited an account that stretches back to at least 2009 or 10, and I've deleted thousands of files so far. My work is cut out for me! Thanks for your patience, and for flagging my issue for the developers. I'll reach out if I have more issues. Have a great afternoon!

Shannon

[shannonsellars]

Hi William. 

This issue has never fully been resolved. Even when whittling files way down the ability to sort files by date never returned. Our library has crept back up to 71% full and I'm forced to hit the "Show More" button to get older files to load. The date function in the adavanced search does not appear to be working. Any suggestions on how I can quickly clear out the bulk of these files? There doesn't seem to be an easy solution here.

[William_A]

With the sheer amount of files you have, the only way to make this go quciker would be to start purging old, unused files from the account. Otherwise, you'll need to scroll through manually, or start using folders and subfolders in a greater capacity, to find older images.

[shannonsellars]

I should also mention that the "show more" button working stopped appearing once I hit 4/30/2024. 

[StJohn0584]

My library is 86% full. I have deleted a large number of files, but I would like to get rid of some older stuff, which dates back as far as to 2011 or so. The "date range" sort function doesn't work (I saw your post about that above) and the advanced search function allows me to change the start date but not the end date. Is there anything else I can do short of scrolling through 3000 files to get to the bottom? And is it likely to freeze before I get there, making my hours of tedious effort useless?

[William_A]

Hello @StJohn0584 ,

I'd recommend referring to the earlier posts in this thread, for what your options are. Ultimately with that many files, you're going to need to do manual work to either sort them into smaller files, or cull the unused or unneeded files. Whether or not the library "freezes" while you're loading up potentially hundreds of files on a single view will be dependent on your internet bandwidth and device. 

[BobbieJoM]

Do you realize that the larger the number of items the more important it is to be able to clear them out quickly? That "too many items" makes it stop strikes me as ridiculous. Is this ever going to be addressed?