# Get started with SmartSort AI

SmartSort AI · Getting started · Updated October 4, 2026

> Install SmartSort AI, let it import your catalog, set your sorting rules and sort your first collection — in about ten minutes.

SmartSort AI automatically organizes the products in your Shopify collections: best sellers up, sold-out products down, new arrivals and featured products in the spotlight. This guide takes you from install to your first sorted collection.

## Before you start

- SmartSort AI works on every Shopify plan and with every theme. It doesn’t edit your theme or add code to your storefront pages.
- It sorts a collection by switching it to Shopify’s **manual** sort order and moving products into position — exactly what you’d do by dragging products in your Shopify admin, only automatic.
- Both manual and automated (smart) collections can be sorted. Shopify still decides which products belong to an automated collection; SmartSort AI decides their order.

## 1. Install the app

Install SmartSort AI from the Shopify App Store and approve the permissions Shopify shows. SmartSort AI opens inside your Shopify admin, on the **Dashboard**.

New stores start on the free plan, so you can try everything below without choosing a plan first. See [Plans and billing](https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/plans-and-billing/) for the limits of each plan.

## 2. Let the first sync finish

Right after install, SmartSort AI imports your store in the background, in three steps: **products** (with variants, prices, costs and inventory), **collections** (with their current product order) and **orders** from the last 60 days (line items only — see [Privacy and data](https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/privacy-and-data/)).

The Dashboard shows the progress. A few hundred products take a minute or two; a catalog of 100,000 products can take longer. You can set up your rules while it runs.

> **Tip:** After the first sync, SmartSort AI keeps everything current with Shopify’s webhooks and runs a full check every night, so you never need to sync by hand. If something looks out of date, **Settings** has a button to sync again.

## 3. Set your sorting rules

Open **Sorting rules**. These are the store-wide rules every collection follows unless you give it its own settings. A good starting point:

1. **Sort by:** *Number of sales – high to low*, with *Newest first* as the secondary sort for products that sold the same amount.
2. **Lookback:** 30 days of orders.
3. **Out of stock:** push out-of-stock products to the bottom.
4. **New products:** promote products created in the last 14 days.

Save. Nothing changes in your store until a collection is turned on. [Sorting rules](https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/sorting-rules/) explains every option.

## 4. Turn on your first collection

On the **Dashboard**, find a collection in the list and choose **Turn on**. SmartSort AI sorts it right away — usually in a few seconds — and then keeps it sorted on your schedule.

> **Note:** Your plan sets how many collections SmartSort AI can sort. Collections you don’t turn on are never touched.

Before turning on an important collection, you can open it and use **Preview** to see the current and the new order side by side. See [Preview, undo and restore](https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/preview-undo-restore/).

## 5. Check the result

Open the collection on your online store. The first products should now be your best sellers and new arrivals, with sold-out products at the end.

If a shopper picks another option from your theme’s **Sort by** menu, they see that order instead — SmartSort AI sets the collection’s default order.

## 6. Choose when to re-sort

By default collections re-sort once a day. In **Sorting rules** you can pick the time (in your store’s time zone), re-sort more often on plans that allow it, or turn on real-time re-sorting after stock-outs and new products. See [Schedules and real-time sorting](https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/schedules-and-real-time/).

## Next steps

- Pin hero products to the top with [Featured products](https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/featured-products/).
- Give a collection its own strategy with [Collection settings](https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/collection-settings/).
- Learn exactly how the order is decided in [How sorting works](https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/how-sorting-works/).

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Source: https://help.fleekapps.com/smartsort-ai/getting-started/