How to Sort WordPress Taxonomy Dropdowns by Date Using ACF

Issue Background:

The “Browse by Magazine Issue” dropdown under Book Reviews displayed items alphabetically by title (e.g., “HNR Issue 102”), not by actual publication date. A legacy fix required a plugin toggle every quarter to manually input dates—leading to conflicts and inconsistent sorting.

What We Did:

  • Created a permanent ‘Issue Date’ field:
    Added a custom date field to the mag_edition taxonomy using Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), replacing the old plugin workaround.
  • Updated the admin experience:
    Admins can now add or edit the publication date directly within the taxonomy term editor—no plugin toggles required.
  • Rebuilt the front-end dropdown logic:
    The dropdown now queries taxonomy terms and sorts them in reverse chronological order using the new field.
  • Populated live dates:
    Historical magazine issues were updated with proper dates, so the dropdown reflects accurate ordering from oldest to newest.

Final Outcome:

The new date-based sorting system is dynamic, reliable, and requires no quarterly intervention. Visitors can now easily browse magazine issues by actual release date, and editors enjoy a cleaner workflow.

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