Sort data source entries

A sort is a condition used to order the entries returned from a data source query.

A data source query can be sorted by a property and/or timestamp and in a given direction. For example, a library data source can be sorted by the “Name of a book” (i.e. property) and in ascending (i.e. direction).

Here is an example of a sort on a data source property.

Sorting by property in ascending direction

{
  "sorts": [
    {
      "property": "created_time",
      "direction": "ascending"
    },
  ]
}

If you’re using the Notion SDK for JavaScript, you can apply this sorting property to your query like so:

JavaScript

const { Client } = require('@notionhq/client');

const notion = new Client({ auth: process.env.NOTION_API_KEY });
// replace with your own data source ID
const dataSourceId = 'd9824bdc-8445-4327-be8b-5b47500af6ce';

const sortedRows = async () => {
  const response = await notion.dataSources.query({
    database_id: databaseId,
    sorts: [
      {
        property: "Name",
        direction: "ascending"
      }
    ],
  });
  return response;
}

Data source queries can also be sorted by two or more properties, which is formally called a nested sort. The sort object listed first in the nested sort list takes precedence.

Here is an example of a nested sort.

JSON

{
  "sorts": [
        {
      "property": "Food group",
      "direction": "descending"
    },
    {
      "property": "Name",
      "direction": "ascending"
    }
  ]
}

In this example, the data source query will first be sorted by “Food group” and the set with the same food group is then sorted by “Name”.

Sort object

Property value sort

This sort orders the data source query by a particular property.

The sort object must contain the following properties:

Property	Type	Description	Example value
property	string	The name of the property to sort against.	"Ingredients"
direction	string (enum)	The direction to sort. Possible values include "ascending" and "descending".	"descending"

Entry timestamp sort

This sort orders the data source query by the timestamp associated with a data source entry.

The sort object must contain the following properties:

Property	Type	Description	Example value
timestamp	string (enum)	The name of the timestamp to sort against. Possible values include "created_time" and "last_edited_time".	"last_edited_time"
direction	string (enum)	The direction to sort. Possible values include "ascending" and "descending".	"descending"