Swatch sorting and ordering Rubik Combined Listings Swatch
Overview
By default, swatches appear in the order you arranged the products inside the group (drag and drop on the Manage group page). On top of that manual order, the app offers optional rules that reorder swatches automatically: demote or hide sold-out products, put new arrivals first, sort alphabetically, sort by how much choice is actually in stock, or pin the product being viewed.
All rules live in Settings → Out-of-stock settings and Settings → Sorting settings, and they apply everywhere swatches render: product pages, collection and search page cards, featured product sections, and quick view.
The rules at a glance
| Rule | Settings section | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hide out-of-stock swatches | Out-of-stock settings | Off | Removes swatches for sold-out products entirely. The product currently being viewed is never hidden. |
| Push out-of-stock swatches to the end | Out-of-stock settings | On | Moves sold-out products after the available ones (ignored when hiding is enabled). |
| Push new products to the start | Sorting settings | Off | Newest first, by each product's publish date. |
| Sort products alphabetically | Sorting settings | Off | A to Z by option value, with natural number handling ("Size 2" comes before "Size 10"). |
| Sort by diversity of available variants | Sorting settings | Off | Products with more distinct variants in stock (for example more available sizes) come first. Details below. |
| Show selected product first | Sorting settings | Off | The product currently being viewed always appears first. |
How the rules combine
You can enable several rules at once. When rules disagree, the higher one in this list wins:
- Show selected product first
- Hide out-of-stock swatches / Push out-of-stock swatches to the end
- Sort by diversity of available variants
- Push new products to the start
- Sort products alphabetically
- Your manual order from the Manage group page
Each rule only moves products it has an opinion about. Where a rule sees a tie (two products it would place equally), the next rule down decides, and when no enabled rule has an opinion, your manual order is kept.
For example, with Sort products alphabetically and Push out-of-stock swatches to the end both on, shoppers see the available products A to Z, followed by the sold-out products A to Z.
Sort by diversity of available variants
This rule puts the products that offer the most real choice first. The score is the number of distinct variants in stock, counted from each product's own native Shopify variants. In the typical combined-listings setup, where each color is its own product and sizes are its variants, the score is simply the number of sizes in stock.
Stock quantity does not matter, only how many different choices remain:
| Product | In stock | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Blue jacket | XS, S, M and XL (2 units each) | 4 |
| Green jacket | Only XS (10 units) | 1 |
| Brown jacket | Nothing in stock | 0 |
With the rule enabled, shoppers see Blue first, then Green, then Brown. A few details worth knowing:
- Only native variants count. The option your group links on does not add to the score: when a Color group links one product per color, each product's own single color value is what makes it a sibling, not extra choice. What counts is the choice inside the product, such as its sizes.
- Sold-out products score 0 and sink to the end, which agrees with the out-of-stock rules.
- Variants set to "continue selling when out of stock" count as available, following Shopify's own availability.
- Ties are common and fall through. Products with equal scores keep the order of the next enabled rule (newest first, alphabetical) or your manual order.
- If every product in the group has a single variant, all scores are equal and this rule changes nothing.
- No cost when off. The availability data is only added to your storefront while the rule is enabled.
To enable it, open Settings → Sorting settings, turn on Sort by diversity of available variants, and save. Refresh your storefront to see the new order.
Good to know
- Swatch categories come first. If you assign categories to swatches (for example "Limited" or "Classics"), swatches display grouped by category, and the sorting rules apply within each category group.
- Multiple option groups sort independently. If a product belongs to more than one group (for example Color and Style), each swatch row is sorted on its own. Which row appears first is the group's display order, set on the Manage group page.
- Changes apply on save. Rules take effect the next time a storefront page loads; no theme changes or re-publishing needed.
Related guides
- Visual settings: full reference for swatch appearance.
- Multiple options (Color x Style): linking products that vary by more than one option.
- FAQ: common questions and troubleshooting.