How to Reorder Single Select Options in Airtable (And What to Do for Large Lists)

You’re working in an Airtable base where one of your tables has a single select field. Over time, you’ve added new options to that field, but now the list looks messy and out of order.

You want to reorder the dropdown so the options appear in a clear, intentional sequence. The question is, can you do this without deleting and recreating every option?

The answer is yes. And depending on how many options you have, you can choose between a simple manual way or a more scalable method.

Manual Reorder for Small Lists

Select the single select field and click Edit. Airtable shows all your options in a list, and each one has a small drag handle made of dots on the left.

Grab that handle and drag the option up or down. This lets you reorder the list in any sequence you want.

For small lists, this solves everything quickly.

This method works well when you have a few options, but it becomes slow and clumsy once the list grows. If you’re adding new options frequently, keeping everything ordered manually becomes a chore.

That’s where a more automated approach helps.

Use Linked Records for Automatic Ordering

If you want your options to sort themselves automatically, switch from a single select field to a linked record field.

To set this up, create a small table to hold all your option records. Add a simple text field for the option names and set it as the primary field.

After that, apply your preferred sorting rules in the first view of this table. Whatever order you create there will automatically become the order shown in the linked record dropdown.

Now your linked record field will always display its options in the correct order, even as you add new ones.

Both methods let you arrange your options exactly the way you want. Choose the one that fits the size of your list and the structure of your base.