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How to Sort Viva Engage Conversations by Posting Date in SharePoint
Question details
The user wants to sort discussions in the Viva Engage Conversations web part strictly by the original posting date.
- Product
- SharePoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Managing discussion feeds on a SharePoint intranet site using the Viva Engage web part.
- Observed behavior
- The web part currently sorts threads by recent activity, causing older posts with new comments to move upward instead of maintaining a chronological order.
Ensure you have site editor permissions on your SharePoint intranet to modify web part configurations and explore alternative feed components.
Understand Web Part Limitations and Explore Alternatives
Currently, the SharePoint Viva Engage web part does not offer a native toggle to sort strictly by posting date, as it prioritizes active discussions.
By design, the Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) Conversations web part surfaces active discussions to the top of the feed to encourage user engagement. Any new comment or reaction on an older post updates its activity timestamp, bumping it up and overriding the original chronological order.
Microsoft has not yet introduced an out-of-the-box setting to change this behavior to strictly sort by 'original posting date'.
Edit your SharePoint page, select the Viva Engage web part, and open the property pane. You will observe that there are options to select the source (community or topic) but no native sorting toggles.
Navigate to the official Microsoft SharePoint or Viva Engage feedback community portals to submit or upvote a feature request for chronological sorting.
If strict chronological order is essential for your intranet communications, consider using the standard SharePoint News web part instead, which natively sorts by publication date.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Viva Engage push old posts to the top?
Viva Engage is designed as an enterprise social network that prioritizes active discussions. Any new reply, comment, or reaction updates the activity timestamp of the thread, causing it to surface at the top of the feed to encourage continued engagement.
Can I use the Highlighted Content web part to sort Viva Engage posts?
No, the Highlighted Content web part is used to dynamically display documents, pages, and list items stored within SharePoint. It cannot natively pull or sort external feeds from Viva Engage.
Are there third-party tools that fix the Viva Engage chronological sorting issue?
Yes, some third-party intranet vendors and specialized custom SPFx developers offer custom web parts that pull data via the Viva Engage API, allowing administrators to configure a strict chronological sorting order.
