# Sort Cylc 8 GUI cycle points **URL:** \ **Category:** Cylc Support\ **Created:** [January 5, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844 "2024-01-05T16:06:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![russbnavy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/russbnavy/32/96_2.png) [@russbnavy](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/russbnavy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/1 "2024-01-05T16:06:30Z")
So in order to avoid workflows from stalling due to a short runahead limit, I set mine to four days’ worth to keep things alive on non-24/7 monitored systems so after a weekend I can come back to things still running even if something fails Friday afternoon. What this leaves me with is a very long list of tasks in the workflow tree view in the GUI. How do I control the sort so the oldest cycle point is at the top? I know a similar question was asked mid last year but my ask is just about cycle points which aren’t as dynamic as tasks are. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![wxtim](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/wxtim/32/151_2.png) [@wxtim](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/wxtim)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/2 "2024-01-05T16:19:55Z")
There should be a tick box in the settings page (Dashboard \> Settings) for “Latest Cycle Point at Top”. Unticking this should put thhe oldest one at the top. ---
**Author:** ![russbnavy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/russbnavy/32/96_2.png) [@russbnavy](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/russbnavy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/3 "2024-01-05T16:30:16Z")
Hah I didn’t even notice the settings button… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![hilary.j.oliver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/hilary.j.oliver/32/4_2.png) [@hilary.j.oliver](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/hilary.j.oliver)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/4 "2024-01-05T21:02:25Z")
If it’s a particular task that is expected to fail occasionally, you could avoid a long runahead limit by marking its success as optional (and possibly handling the failure with a fail trigger too). Then if it fails it won’t be retained by the scheduler as an incomplete task, and so it won’t cause a runahead stall. (Just wondering if that would be appropriate, because if the workflow can continue despite the failure, the failed task presumably isn’t on the “critical path” in the graph). ---
**Author:** ![russbnavy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/russbnavy/32/96_2.png) [@russbnavy](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/russbnavy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/5 "2024-01-05T22:51:33Z")
In our case, it’s more of trying to prevent things from dying over the weekend. In our production environment tasks will be monitored so it will be less of an issue. I might comb through and make the appropriate tasks optional but extending the runahead limit has been an acceptable solution so far. I’m still getting used to the dynamic loading of tasks vs Cylc 7’s preloading because I’m so used to looking at the graph to see if something has happened or not, where as now I can’t tell if something has happened and has been removed from the graph or if it hasn’t loaded yet, unless I memorize all the dependencies of all our workflows… Also missing “cylc show” in the GUI 🙂 … unless that’s another obvious button I’m overlooking. ---
**Author:** ![hilary.j.oliver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/hilary.j.oliver/32/4_2.png) [@hilary.j.oliver](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/hilary.j.oliver)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/6 "2024-01-05T23:54:47Z")
> [@russbnavy](#): > > I’m still getting used to the dynamic loading of tasks vs Cylc 7’s preloading because I’m so used to looking at the graph to see if something has happened or not, where as now I can’t tell if something has happened and has been removed from the graph or if it hasn’t loaded yet, unless I memorize all the dependencies of all our workflows… That change was a necessary efficiency enhancement, to support increasingly large and complicated workflows, particularly for the web UI. However, the “n=1 window” around active tasks is only the default. You can widen it with the “set window extent” option in the workflow drop-down menu. Then you’ll see more succeeded tasks out the back, and more waiting tasks up front. An option to see all the tasks in all active cycle points is also planned for a future release, for use in relatively small workflows. ---
**Author:** ![russbnavy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/russbnavy/32/96_2.png) [@russbnavy](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/russbnavy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/7 "2024-01-08T15:34:52Z")
> [@hilary.j.oliver](#): > > However, the “n=1 window” around active tasks is only the default. You can widen it with the “set window extent” option in the workflow drop-down menu. Then you’ll see more succeeded tasks out the back, and more waiting tasks up front. I think that would be very helpful… I’m on UI 2.1.0 and I’m not seeing that in the workflow dropdown, unless I’m not looking in the right place. I clicked the hamburger button next to the workflow/run# title. Is that the right place to be looking? ---
**Author:** ![hilary.j.oliver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/hilary.j.oliver/32/4_2.png) [@hilary.j.oliver](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/hilary.j.oliver)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/8 "2024-01-08T21:22:58Z")
> [@russbnavy](#): > > I clicked the hamburger button next to the workflow/run# title. Is that the right place to be looking? Yes, but you need to hit “See More” at the bottom of the menu, to expand the less-used items, then scroll down a bit: ![Screenshot 2024-01-09 102146](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/cylc1/original/1X/33d7d8c6c6694b67fce80772f994010e801c0085.png) ---
**Author:** ![hilary.j.oliver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/hilary.j.oliver/32/4_2.png) [@hilary.j.oliver](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/hilary.j.oliver)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/9 "2024-01-08T21:24:02Z")
(Note when you change the window extent, the view won’t update until the next workflow data increment comes over the wire). ---
**Author:** ![russbnavy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/russbnavy/32/96_2.png) [@russbnavy](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/russbnavy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/10 "2024-01-08T21:44:00Z")
I had to scroll a bit after clicking see more. My scroll bar in firefox is very thin apparently. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![TomC](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/tomc/32/115_2.png) [@TomC](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/TomC)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 6:18am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/11 "2024-01-09T06:18:15Z")
Is it possible to set a default window extent for all workflows in a configuration file? ---
**Author:** ![hilary.j.oliver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/hilary.j.oliver/32/4_2.png) [@hilary.j.oliver](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/hilary.j.oliver)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 7:11am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/sort-cylc-8-gui-cycle-points/844/12 "2024-01-09T07:11:33Z")
Not yet (and that might be dangerous, if you start a really big workflow). But we do plan to make the window extent more easily configurable. Currently the default is always `n=1` and the setting is a bit hidden.