Add Automatic Sorting Options for Books Within Shelves (Similar to Chapters/Pages)

[mschoon85]

Describe the feature you'd like

Description:
Currently, books within a shelf can be manually reordered, but there are no automatic sorting options available—unlike chapters and pages, which now support various automatic sort modes (e.g. alphabetical, by creation date, etc.).

We would like to see the same automatic sorting options made available for books within a shelf.

Use Case & Benefits:
In our setup, some shelves contain a large number of books. Manually reordering these can be time-consuming and inconsistent. Having access to the same automatic sorting options as for chapters and pages would:

• Bring consistency to the sorting experience across BookStack
• Make it easier to manage and navigate shelves
• Save time and effort when maintaining large collections

Describe the benefits this would bring to existing BookStack users

Introducing automatic sorting options for books within shelves—similar to the existing options for chapters and pages—would provide the following measurable benefits:

Improved content discoverability: When books are sorted alphabetically or by date, users can find the desired book more quickly, especially in shelves with many items.

Consistent user experience: Applying the same sorting logic across all content layers (shelves, chapters, pages) creates a more intuitive and predictable navigation structure for users.

Reduced maintenance time: Instead of manually reordering books, users can rely on predefined sort logic that updates automatically as content changes, saving time and effort.

Better scalability: As BookStack instances grow in size and complexity, automatic sorting becomes essential for keeping large collections organized and manageable.

These benefits support both casual users navigating content and admins maintaining the structure, making BookStack more efficient and user-friendly overall.

Can the goal of this request already be achieved via other means?

No.

While it's currently possible to manually reorder books within a shelf, there is no built-in way to apply automatic sorting (e.g., alphabetical, by creation date, etc.) as is available for chapters and pages. The manual method becomes inefficient and impractical when dealing with larger shelves or frequently changing content. This feature request aims to bring the same level of automation and consistency to book organization that already exists for other content types within BookStack.

Have you searched for an existing open/closed issue?

• I have searched for existing issues and none cover my fundamental request

How long have you been using BookStack?

1 to 5 years

Additional context

No response