Cannot re-order images in shared albums

[nancycoste]

Hello Adobe Community / Support Team,

I’m at my wit’s end after spending more than an hour trying to fix this issue. I have a Lightroom Cloud album (“wedding aileen y Preston…”) of 1,125 images. On my iPad, it’s correctly sorted by capture date, but when I try to share via the web interface, Lightroom automatically reverts to a Custom Order that I cannot modify — no matter what I try.

Steps I’ve tried:

1. On iPad Lightroom

• Tap the sort icon (≡) → choose Custom

• Long‑press and drag one photo somewhere else, then drag it back — no change

• Even restarted the app—nothing happens

2. On Lightroom Web/Desktop

• Clicked the “sort by” (≡) menu, saw options: Capture date, Import date, Modified date, File name, Custom [with Edit link], Reverse order

• Tried switching to Capture Date, but after setting it and sharing, the album immediately reverted to the old Custom Order

• Tried editing Custom order (drag‑drop via web), but nothing sticks

After switching away from Custom → sharing → album reverts immediately to the unwanted order. It “bounces back” so fast you don’t even see it change. I literally can’t reorder anything.

References that show this is a known problem:

“Whatever has been set as the ‘Custom Order’ is always used in the Shared Album…”

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-ecosystem-cloud-based-discussions/problems-with-sort-order-...

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-web-public-gallery-not-sorting-correctly/idi...

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-ecosystem-cloud-based-bugs/p-sorting-photos-in-shared-album...

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-ecosystem-cloud-based-discussions/custom-sort-not-working/m...

What I need:

1. A clear step-by-step method to set the album order (either by Capture Date or manually) and have that order stick when I share the link.
2. A fix for why shared albums always default to “Custom Order”, even when I have the album set to Capture Date.
3. A way to reorder or correct the “Custom Order” if Lightroom is going to force it into every shared link.

I’m traveling for two months and will not have access to my computer. I’m relying entirely on my iPad to finalize albums, organize photos, and share with clients. The fact that the iPad shows the correct order, but Lightroom Web won’t respect it, and I can’t reorder it on iPad or Web, is not only frustrating — it’s making my work impossible.

Please respond with a real solution or escalate this to engineering. This is a serious failure in the Lightroom ecosystem.

Thank you,

Nancy Coste

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Regarding Item 1: I cannot reproduce the failure you describe.

" Long‑press and drag one photo somewhere else, then drag it back — no change".   I do see it change and see the change persist.  Perhaps you could provide more detailed step-by-step instructions or record a video to share with the team?

Regarding Item 2: 
Trying to decipher what you are saying here.

In Lightroom Desktop, sorting albums by custom and Capture Date (and others) works as expected.
In Lightroom Web, sorting albums by custom or Capture Date works as expected. 
A Shared Album opened by the copied link in the Shared Album Dialog does not inherit the current sort order from either Lightroom Desktop or Lightroom Web. Is this the specific issue?