diff --git a/tailbone/views/batch/vendorcatalog.py b/tailbone/views/batch/vendorcatalog.py
index 86d8404b..3661dc25 100644
--- a/tailbone/views/batch/vendorcatalog.py
+++ b/tailbone/views/batch/vendorcatalog.py
@@ -148,10 +148,33 @@ class VendorCatalogView(FileBatchMasterView):
 
     def configure_grid(self, g):
         super(VendorCatalogView, self).configure_grid(g)
-        g.joiners['vendor'] = lambda q: q.join(model.Vendor)
-        g.filters['vendor'] = g.make_filter('vendor', model.Vendor.name,
-                                            default_active=True, default_verb='contains')
-        g.sorters['vendor'] = g.make_sorter(model.Vendor.name)
+        model = self.model
+
+        # nb. this batch has vendor_id and vendor_name fields, but in
+        # practice they aren't used much and normally just the vendor
+        # proper is set.  so we remove simple filters and add the
+        # custom one for (referenced) vendor name
+        g.remove_filter('vendor_id')
+        g.remove_filter('vendor_name')
+        g.set_joiner('vendor', lambda q: q.join(model.Vendor))
+        g.set_filter('vendor', model.Vendor.name,
+                     default_active=True,
+                     default_verb='contains')
+        # and this is the same thing we are showing as grid column
+        g.set_sorter('vendor', model.Vendor.name)
+
+        # preferred filters
+        g.set_filters_sequence([
+            'id',
+            'vendor',
+            'description',
+            'executed',
+            'created',
+            'filename',
+            'future',
+            'effective',
+            'notes',
+        ])
 
         g.set_link('vendor')
         g.set_link('filename')