We'll add a search field inside the merchandiser to be able to better deal with large catalogs.

For now we do not plan to implement a way to switch back to "old style", but we could definitely study a PR if anybody submit one.

Regards

I have customers now that are upset that the original sort is gone after swapping to elastic suite.
The rest is fine but this is a big no-go for shops to start using this solution.
One option is to add an option to import the original sort-order in the new automatic/ manual setup. The data is still present in the database. The same as when you import the sorting order via REST but now via a setting in the category.
A second option "Use original Magento position sort" switch per category so you get the column back with the old values present.