Ok, thanks. I hope it’ll be implemented soon, then.
On the front page of the DEVONthink website, as primary selling points, you can read:
“Get Organized — Unleash Your Creativity”
“Collect, organize, edit and annotate documents of any kind.”
So, “organize” is the main keyword that is put forward.
I really believe that the most basic value within the very concept of “organization”, is “ordering” things in a way that makes sense to every individual user.
Hence, “custom order”.
If an application’s main purpose is to “collect” and “organize” items (data), it has to provide a way for the user to order those items or data the way they believe is more suitable for their needs, so that they can browse through it the way they prefer. By that logic, providing “manual ordering” capabilities just feels as unavoidable.
Making the point that I am a “rare” user case because I need to browse and access data using and favoring a “manual arrangement” of files and folders, feels quite inconsistent and insensate to me, coming from the authors of an app whose main’s goal is to “organize” files and folders.
The point here is not the “individual use” of the app.
The point is to provide a “fundamental feature” such as “custom ordering” on the main app, and not being able to use it in the other instances, and not considering that as important, because you don’t have so many requests about it.
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We understand what you’re saying and we never alluded to it being unimportant. but once again…
If it was trivial to implement, we would have already. But it’s not, including syncing between devices.
Also, remember that importance is subjective too. Everyone has a pet feature or idea they see as the most important thing. If we have 10 people complaining about a lack of feature X and 1000 crying out for feature Y, we have to consider the broader audience. That doesn’t mean the 1000 will get their way; it still may be an infeasible thing to implement.
Lastly, please remember we are a very small company. We don’t have an army (or even a battalion 
) of developers working on our apps. Time and resources have to be spent wisely.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
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Firstly I just wanted to say I am quite enjoying the view, filter and summary display options. Thanks
In regard to unordered/manual ordering I to find that option very important to me.
If I am storing static information it is not that critical but when storing dynamic information it is sorely missed.
Noted and we’re glad to hear you are finding utility in the expanded view options. 
I’d like to add a +1 for manual sorting in DTTG.
I’ve been trying to eliminate as many apps as possible, and just use DT for all my organization / task management needs. When organizing tasks, there’s obviously a priority for each task. The most intuitive way to prioritize tasks is by dragging/dropping them in desired order of completion. This is easy in DT, since it supports manual sorting. However, I was shocked when I opened my tasks folder in DTTG and discovered there was no option to manually sort.
I know I can kind of work around this using labels or something, but that’s just not as intuitive as dragging/dropping, nor does it allow you to precisely order your tasks. And I know I can work around it by manually numbering each item, but that feels old-fashioned and clunky to me. Finally, I realize that without the ability to sync the manual sort order between devices, this feature would be largely useless in DTTG.
So please take note of my +1 for syncing sort order, and then for supporting manual sort in DTTG.
Thank you.
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I’m so happy there are other people who find this to be a very necessary feature!
As I said before, I use DT for everything, writing, organizing, texts, to do lists, bookmarks, and a millions of other things. All my life is managed by DT. Sorting folders and files manually is essential for an application that is intended to “organize” your digital life.
Alphabetical order is an option to “find” things, not to keep them organized. Organization is an personal asset.
Numbering files to organize them within the obligation of the alphabetical order is absurd. Imagine you have 50 notes for a topic, and you place them in a certain order in DT. If you do that by prefixing them with a number:
1 - Title
2 - Title
3 - Title
…
…
25 - Title
Then you want to change the order of the topic that was prefixed with 21 and put it up after number 3. You have to change of all the files in that list. Absurd!
DTTG makes it impossible for me to use all I do in DT. So, I end up walking with the Laptop instead of an iPad to use all my digital stuff, because DTTG doesn’t allow me proper visual structure to my files, the way I organize them in DT.
I hope more people like you will ask for this feature to be mandatory, because they will never implemented if only a couple of people is finding this essential.
The day that will happen, my life will be so much better, as I literally live in DT.
With hope. 
Start with a numbering system like
010 …
020 …
030 …
040 …
It allows putting it up after number 030 (031…039)
without needing to change all the files in the list
I appreciate the suggestion.
But I won’t have all my files prefixed with numbers. That is hell.
I have hundreds of files in DT. This is a workaround for something that should be integrated as a basic feature.
I said it before: Every respectable app that is intended to be used as an organization tool of some kind, should offer a way to the user to sort and arrange their items manually, as they better wish. Alphabetical and Last Updated options for sorting, should be used as a quick way to “find” a file within a list, not to organize the hierarchy and the position of such files in a list/group/folder, that is.
I need Unsorted capabilities on DTTG too ! and DEVONthink Server !!!
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MacOS used to have a spatial finder; documents stayed where you put them in a window, and you could organize them spatially however you wanted. Apple chose not to do this in the transition to OS X, despite the fact that they employ not just battalions but legions of developers, and despite the fact that there was enormous pressure on them to reimplement the spatial finder by people who wanted it as part of their work flow. They made a cost benefit decision, likely with input from actual user studies.
This isn’t to say that Dt shouldn’t implement custom sorting, but when BLUEFROG says it would be non-trivial and he’s not sure how many folks would use it I would tend to believe him. If I want a custom order, and I occasionally do, I rename things so they alpha sort the way I want. The literal last thing I want or “need” is the option to fiddle around with manually sorting documents.
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And inbefore “but my workflow”
I believe you! You think numbering documents is hell! I get it. I’m not saying you’re wrong to feel that way! If you want validation I would read Siracusa’s 10,000 articles about the spatial finder, they are beautifully written and closely argued.
Will the synchronization of a Custom Order for all the files and folders be implemented?
Losing the organization of how you order files and folders in DT (and how you modify that order in your workflow) when you open DTTG makes using the app very troubling.
Having to assign numbers to order your flowers and file when you make extensive use of an app to organize everything you do in life is incredibly annoying and kills the purpose of smooth, natural personal organization.
You end up having folders and files with numbers all over the place:
- Every time you create a new file, you need to assign a number to it.
- Every time you want to move a file, you need to re-assign all the numbers under that deleted file.
- Every time you want to change the position of that file, you need to change the numbers for all the other files.
Sorting files by alphabetical order, or date, kills the idea of letting the user of an application organize all the items as they wish and how it suits them. Everyone has a different use for a “all-purpose” app like DT: organizing bookmarks, documents, writing books, organizing life and thoughts, to do lists, projects, accountancy. The use you can make out of DT is endless.
Organizing all your data with a custom order (unsorted), folders/groups and files, and then losing that organization when you access it via DTTG is very limiting experience of the app you use the most.
Imagine creating playlists of songs in Spotify on the desktop app and then going into your phone and finding the app in there wanting to reorder them based on alphabetical order rather than your preference. That’s how it feels to use the same database when switching from DT to DTTG.
Visual order is a personal preference that should be offered (which it is in DT) and maintained when you want to browse your databases on other devices.