Cue the following recording...

Sorting, as it exists, was not originally part of RTM. It was added on 8/1/07, and those three sort options (priority, date, alphabetical) are much better than nothing, but...

These boards are littered with threads by people suggesting different sorting schemes. A very non-comprehensive list follows, including several that ask for just what you desire...

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/279/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/552/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/783/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/1448/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/1547/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/1891/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/1910/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2243/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2514/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2854/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2856/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2879/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3145/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3158/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3206/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3233/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3742/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3835/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/3989/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/help/4043/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/4472/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/5062/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/5210/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/6289/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/help/6629/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/10905/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/11914/

So when you hear cranky ol' timers lament that the UI of the RTM site has lain dormant while other things have been attended to - GMail, iPhone, Android, &c. - this is exactly the sort of thing we're talking about. I really hope some basic things, like per-list, multi-variate, customizable sorting, are addressed before Bob turns his attention to iPads and Outlook syncing, for example.

* The idea that smartlists have access to an operator that would specify sorting is one of the many great ideas found in the threads above. I think that would help make RTM's best feature even better.

+1 I would like this too please

I would like this too please

Completely agree. Being unable to sort completed tasks is crazy - it stops being a useful way to check if you did something (RTM needs to be my brain, I can't remember things).

Simple drop down menu/filter system would suffice. Even Google have realised this is missing from Gmail.

As Rambarton has said, sorting by date added is one of the oldest requests in the forums. I'm not sure why there's been so little progress on this, but perhaps it presents some technical challenges.

The good news is that there's a job for a UI designer being advertised at present, so let's hope that whoever is appointed assigns some time to look at this enhancement.

Would it be hard to make lists sortable by an arbitrary feature? I think it would be great if we could sort by:

Title
^ Due Date
! Priority
(these three are done)

# Lists and Tags
@ Location
* Repeat
= Time Estimate
Date entered
Date completed

+1.

I for one would like to see random sort. I have some lists that have a hundred or so long-standing tasks (books to read) of more or less equal priority, and when it's time to go pick one I'd like to easily do so without being biased by task name.

@luc0zade - I doubt there are any significant technical challenges, unless they're made terrible architectural choice, which I doubt - RTM gives of a very good technical competency smell.

I would like to be able to change the order of tasks within a priority other than alphabetically.

The list of prior suggestions has no titles as part of the name so it's too arduous to do a search if this has been suggested already.

Reading all these requests for additional sorts, I'm not sure I am going to continue to use this site. It doesn't seem to do much more than keeping separate post-its, or a spreadsheet of some sort.

In addition, I would like to be able to select sorting when I do an advanced search, e.g.:

tag:sometag sort:-dateAdded,priority,+name

That would list all tasks with tag "sometag" and then sort them first by dateAdded descending, then priority ascending, then name ascending.

Currently tasks without a due date appear at the top of a list sorted by due date. I typically review tasks and those that are a priority, I allocate a time today that I should pick them up. However, tasks with no due time always come first when sorted by "Due Date". For me this is a frustration. Since these are typically lower priority for me, I want them to come under the tasks that I have allocated a time. I would like some kind of sorting option - "Tasks With No Time At Bottom Of List".

I've added RTM to my google mail, and it's great, but it only shows me a few days. I'd like to see more days in that list, as some projects that aren't due for several days, can actually be done sooner, if time is permitted.

I think this sorting request should be merged with this one here (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/11914/), which is (as far as I can tell) the mother of all "More sorting options, please!" thread.

A manual sorting option would be very helpful for me.

Situation: I have a bunch of tasks that need to be done, with varying degrees (more than priority 1-3) of importance. More tasks will be created as the existing tasks are worked on, with, again, varying degrees of importance. Something like starting the task descriptions with 000-999 gets messy sooner or later.

In the web interface, it'd be nice to have a keyboard shortcut to insert a task below/above another one when manual sorting is possible.

Sort by X. Then sort by, then sort by..... Yes for sure that would be nice!

Using RTM for goceries list, need ability to sort completed tasks by name, so do not have to re-type...

Hi, we (me+wife) use RTM extensively for Groceries. Sorting completed tasks by name would be extremelly helpful.

I would love to be able to switch on an option so that I can see how many days this task has been existing in RTM (days since being added).
Of course I would then also like to be able to sort according to the added date.
But sorting makes only really sense when you can see the value that you're sorting in the list.
I would image it to look something like this:
task 1 14d 28 Apr
task 2 5d 30 Apr

This way you're aware that task 1 was added 2 weeks ago and that maybe it's more important to review this task than task 2.

I would like to be able to sort on multiple levels within the sorts that already exist, such as sorting on date and then name within date. This could be done without changing the interface just by having the application remember the last sort and make it secondary when I sort again. So if I sort on priority, and then sort on date, I get a list sorted on both date and priority (within date).

I would also like to see sorting on tags. As there is so much flexibility in tags, this gives people a lot of flexibility to design their own sorting schemes.

Amen.

Yeah, i would really wish to have a sorting ny tag, too!

+1

custom sort would be useful

Hi guys,
I came across a great smart list, like: NOT dueAfter:"1 week of today".
However sorting by -- or at least showing -- the time estimates would be a great way of getting all those small thigs done. This would be perfect as a third sorting level after prio and date.

At the very least, please sort "due today" by list name.I want a quick way to see what is due today, but it's a jumble with all my lists (personal, work, etc.) mixed together.

Per list sorting would be nice