I’m struggling with fetching records from my Notion database while maintaining the exact order I set up through dragging and dropping items in the interface. I’ve been going through the API documentation and searching various forums but haven’t found a working solution yet. The default query responses don’t seem to respect the manual ordering I created by rearranging items in the Notion app. Is there a specific parameter or method to preserve this custom arrangement when making API calls? Any help would be appreciated since I need the data to match exactly how I organized it visually.
Unfortunately, Notion’s API doesn’t expose the manual drag-and-drop order from the interface. I hit this exact problem last year building a client dashboard - they had carefully arranged project priorities, but the API couldn’t see that visual order at all.
The visual ordering only exists in the UI and isn’t stored as an actual property you can access through the API. My workaround was creating a dedicated ‘Order’ or ‘Priority’ number field in the database. Just assign sequential values (1, 2, 3, etc.) that match how you want things arranged. Then you can sort by that field in your API queries using the sorts parameter. Yeah, it’s extra setup, but you get reliable control over the sequence. Plus reordering later is easier - just change the numbers instead of dragging stuff around.
Hit this exact problem building an internal tool last month. Notion’s API completely ignores drag-and-drop ordering from the UI - it’s honestly their biggest weakness. Here’s what worked: I added a ‘Position’ number property and wrote a script that checks for reordering changes. When it spots something, it prompts me to update the position values. Not automatic, but it bridges visual organization with API access. Just stay consistent updating those position values whenever you move stuff around in Notion.
yeah, it’s super frustrating! i did something similar with a manual order column too. it’s not ideal, but at least we can keep things organized the way we want. hope they add this feature in the future!
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