Reports - Categories sort alphabetically from Z-A on the first click

[jponikarchuk]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: v9.3.10-3
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: N/A - new feature, doesn't exist in prod
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #80333
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): gibethlehem@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Pull Request QA execution
Device used: macOS/chrome
App Component: Other

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Create some expense with category
4. Navigate to Search with groupBy:category
5. Click on the "Category" column header to sort

Expected Result:

Categories sort alphabetically A-Z, then Z-A on second click

Actual Result:

Categories sort alphabetically Z-A, then A-Z on second click

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7059701_1769553452834.Screen_Recording_2026-01-28_at_1.35.05_at_night.mov

View all open jobs on GitHub

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #80333

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @CortneyOfstad (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details. Please add this bug to a GH project, as outlined in the SO.

[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.

[OSBotify]

Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #80333 - "feat: [Insights] [Release 1] Top Categories - Add group-by:category" by @TaduJR (High confidence)
Related Issues: None

Recommendation: ROLL FORWARD

The issue is in the SortableHeaderText component (not introduced by PR #80333, but the bug only became visible when groupBy:category was added). The fix is simple and low-risk - just flip the sort order logic on first click from DESC to ASC. Rolling forward with a quick fix is more efficient than reverting the entire category grouping feature.

Labels: Keeping DeployBlockerCash (App deploy is blocked until fixed)

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

The bug report states that clicking the Category column header for the first time sorts Z-A instead of A-Z. PR #80333 introduced the groupBy:category functionality, including:

• New CategoryListItemHeader.tsx component
• Category sorting logic in SearchUIUtils.ts
• Tests that verify the expected behavior (ASC should be A-Z)

Root Cause

The bug is in /home/runner/work/App/App/src/components/SelectionListWithSections/SortableHeaderText.tsx at line 59:

const nextSortOrder = isActive && sortOrder === CONST.SEARCH.SORT_ORDER.DESC ? CONST.SEARCH.SORT_ORDER.ASC : CONST.SEARCH.SORT_ORDER.DESC;

Current behavior:

• When column is not active (first click): nextSortOrder = DESC → sorts Z-A
• When column is active with DESC: nextSortOrder = ASC → sorts A-Z

Expected behavior:

• First click should set ASC (A-Z)
• Second click should toggle to DESC (Z-A)

Verification

I verified that:

1. PR feat: [Insights] [Release 1] Top Categories - Add group-by:category #80333 adds the category grouping feature and modified files in the Search/category area
2. The tests in tests/unit/Search/SearchUIUtilsTest.ts confirm ASC should produce A-Z sorting
3. The SortableHeaderText component is used for all column headers in grouped search views
4. The bug was not introduced by PR feat: [Insights] [Release 1] Top Categories - Add group-by:category #80333 - the component existed before, but the issue only manifested with the new category column

Why Roll Forward Instead of Revert

• The fix is a simple one-line change to flip the initial sort order
• Reverting would remove the entire category grouping feature
• PR feat: [Insights] [Release 1] Top Categories - Add group-by:category #80333 has extensive tests that pass (the sorting implementation is correct, only the UI toggle logic is wrong)
• No other issues reported with this feature
• The bug is isolated to the initial sort direction, not the sorting logic itself

[neil-marcellini]

I'm on it