---
title: "Ordering Content Manually"
description: "Control the exact sidebar order when auto-generation is not enough"
---

Manual ordering keeps critical pages in the right sequence instead of relying on alphabetical auto-generation.

## When to Order Manually

- Tutorials or onboarding checklists where steps must be followed
- Compliance and policy docs that should surface before usage guides
- Release announcements where the latest item should appear first
- Any section where business priority matters more than file name sorting

## Define the Order in Config

List slugs in the exact order you want. Anything not listed will not appear.

```typescript
{
    id: "manual-creation",
    label: "Manual Creation",
    entries: [
        { slug: "generation-strategies/manual-creation/ordering-content" },
        { slug: "generation-strategies/manual-creation/use-cases" },
        { slug: "generation-strategies/manual-creation/explicit-control" },
    ],
}
```

Tips:

- Use clear file names; avoid numeric prefixes unless you want to encode order in the file system.
- Keep the `entries` array short; split into groups when it grows past 5-6 items.
- Prefer `navLabel` in frontmatter to keep labels short while files stay descriptive.

## Keeping Order Stable

- Add new pages intentionally rather than relying on discovery.
- If you need to insert in the middle, update only this array; file names stay unchanged.
- Pair with `navHidden: true` in frontmatter for drafts so ordering does not shift.

## Review Questions

Before finalizing your manual ordering, consider:

- Does the order match the story you want readers to follow?
- Are high-priority items near the top?
- Are drafts hidden to avoid gaps?
- Do labels stay concise via `navLabel` when needed?

## Next Steps

- Learn where manual ordering shines in [Manual Creation Use Cases](/docs/generation-strategies/manual-creation/use-cases)
- See how to combine manual and discovery in [Pin and Expand](/docs/generation-strategies/hybrid-approach/pin-and-expand)
- Review the config API in [Explicit Control](/docs/generation-strategies/manual-creation/explicit-control)