Spend - New created category is added on the bottom of the list on "Filters" page.

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Version Number: 9.3.82-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #90029
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): ibellicotest+2250@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Motorola MotoG60 / Android 12 (Hybrid app) - Windows 11 / Chrome
App Component: Search

Action Performed:

Prerequisite: Account has at least one workspace.

1. Open the staging.new.expensify.com website.
2. Navigate to "Workspaces" > Open any workspace > "Categories"
3. Click on "Add Category" and create a new category that won´t be placed last alphabetically.
4. Note that new category is added to list and is correctly placed.
5. Navigate to "Spend"
6. Click on "Filters" icon > "Category"
7. Note that the just created category is placed last on categories list.

Expected Result:

New created category should added alphabetically to categories list on "Filters" page.

Actual Result:

New created category is displayed on the bottom of categories list on "Filters" page.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome Safari

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7163122_1779763708346.New_Category.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Julia Ponikarchuk
Bug ID: 7163122

[applause-bot]

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
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[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #90029

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

PR #90029 replaced the old SearchMultipleSelectionPicker (which explicitly sorted items alphabetically via sortOptionsWithEmptyValue) with a new CategorySelector + MultiSelect component pair that never sorts the items.

In CategorySelector.tsx:67-74, category names are collected into a Set (which preserves insertion order from Onyx — not alphabetical) and passed directly to MultiSelect without sorting. MultiSelect.tsx:68 only filters for search, it never sorts.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

Sort the uniqueCategoryNames array alphabetically in CategorySelector.tsx before mapping to items. Change line 68 from:

Array.from(uniqueCategoryNames) → Array.from(uniqueCategoryNames).sort((a, b) => localeCompare(a, b))

where localeCompare comes from the existing useLocalize() hook already imported on line 21. The "No category" item is already prepended at line 55 (before the sorted items are pushed), so it stays at the top.

Note: TagSelector.tsx:43 has the same missing-sort bug and should be fixed the same way.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

An alternative would be adding sorting logic inside MultiSelect.tsx itself, but that would force alphabetical ordering on all consumers. Sorting at the selector level is more appropriate since different selectors may have different ordering requirements.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis, or explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.