[Due for payment 2026-06-12] [$250] Expense - Colon symbol category cannot be selected as category

@mallenexpensify

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: 9.3.78-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #85448
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdsdjoijdoisnjodis@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.2 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

Go to staging.new.expensify.com
Go to workspace chat.
Click + > Create expense > Manual.
Enter amount > Next.
On confirm page, click Category.
Select any category.
Click Category.
Click + button.
Enter : and save it.
→ Category is cleared after selecting :
Open Category field.
→ : category is missing.
Click + button.
Enter : and save it.
→ It shows that the category exists but it is missing in the list.

Expected Result:

In Step 9, after entering colon symbol, the colon symbol will be the category.

Actual Result:

In Step 9, after entering colon symbol, the category is cleared.
In Step 10, the added colon symbol category is missing in category list.
In Step 12, tt shows that the colon symbol category exists but it is missing in the list.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7158349_1779229159073.1.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Svetlana Lazutkina
Bug ID: 7158349

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022057157946292784839
Upwork Job ID: 2057157946292784839
Last Price Increase: 2026-05-20
Automatic offers:

ijmalik | Contributor | 111531827

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @mallenexpensify

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/7c1830620e44adfbd1af7c449ee4967c51c036b9831bfe913621a2a5c62f08c8

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #85448

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

👋 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:

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

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

The new processCategoryNameSegments function (introduced in PR #85448) splits category names on : and filters out empty segments. When the category name is just ":", ":".split(":") produces ["", ""] — both empty strings are filtered out, returning an empty array [].

This empty array causes three cascading failures:

Category disappears from the list — getCategoryOptionTree iterates an empty array, so ":" is never added to the option tree.
Selected category appears cleared — getDecodedLeafCategoryName returns "" for ":", so CategoryField displays a blank title.
sortCategories drops the category — lodashSet(hierarchy, [], value) with an empty path is a no-op, silently losing the entry.

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

In processCategoryNameSegments (src/libs/CategoryUtils.ts:163), add an early return when the result array is empty but the original category name is non-empty. If all segments are empty after filtering (meaning the name consists entirely of colons/whitespace), return the original trimmed name as a single-element array instead of []. This preserves the category as a valid leaf node.

What alternative solutions did you explore?

Validation at category creation time to prevent colon-only names — rejected because the backend already accepts these names, and existing data would still be broken.
Reverting PR Resolved issue_Category - Parent category is disabled when selected #85448 — would fix this regression but re-introduce the original bug that PR solved.

Investigation details

Data flow:

User creates category ":" → backend stores it
sortCategories → processCategoryNameSegments(":") → [] → lodashSet(hierarchy, [], ...) is a no-op → category lost
getCategoryOptionTree → same empty array → loop never runs → category invisible in picker
getDecodedLeafCategoryName(":") → [] → undefined ?? "" → CategoryField shows blank title
User tries to re-create ":" → backend says it exists, but UI can't display it

Affected code paths:

src/libs/CategoryUtils.ts:163-185 — processCategoryNameSegments
src/libs/CategoryUtils.ts:187-191 — getDecodedLeafCategoryName
src/libs/CategoryOptionListUtils.ts:36-37 — getCategoryOptionTree
src/components/MoneyRequestConfirmationList/sections/CategoryField.tsx:53 — display

Possibly related: #82068 (multi-level categories with colons display issues)

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.

This behavior is not a regression introduced by PR #85448. I’ve tested the same scenario in OldDot/Classic and confirmed that a colon‑only category : cannot be selected there either – it appears as an empty line in the dropdown and clicking it does nothing (the category field remains empty).

Our PR’s behavior (the category not appearing in the list) is visually different but functionally identical to OldDot: the category : is not selectable.

For a detailed breakdown, please see my comment in the PR: #85448 (comment)

If the team decides that : should be selectable (unlike OldDot), that would be an enhancement request – but it is not a regression caused by this PR. I recommend closing this issue as “not a regression” (consistent with legacy behavior). Please let me know if you’d still like me to change the PR.

Please see OldDot Demo Video

This behavior is not a regression introduced by PR #85448. I’ve tested the same scenario in OldDot/Classic and confirmed that a colon‑only category : cannot be selected there either – it appears as an empty line in the dropdown and clicking it does nothing (the category field remains empty).

Our PR’s behavior (the category not appearing in the list) is visually different but functionally identical to OldDot: the category : is not selectable.

For a detailed breakdown, please see my comment in the PR: #85448 (comment)

If the team decides that : should be selectable (unlike OldDot), that would be an enhancement request – but it is not a regression caused by this PR. I recommend closing this issue as “not a regression” (consistent with legacy behavior). Please let me know if you’d still like me to change the PR.

Please see OldDot Demo Video

Thanks for checking!
Plus, I think we can remove the deploy blocker
Since it's a real edge case

@ijmalik

Major edge case, yeah. And as @ijmalik pointed out here: #85448 (comment) this also happens on old dot as well.

@ZhenjaHorbach

@ZhenjaHorbach – gentle ping. @mallenexpensify asked for your input on payment/regression a week ago. Could you take a look when you get a moment? Happy to provide context if needed. Thanks!

@ijmalik

Apologies for the delay @ijmalik , I made @ZhenjaHorbach the issue owner and will ping them in Slack too.

@ijmalik

Payment Summary

Contributor: @ijmalik paid $125 via Upwork
Contributor+: @ZhenjaHorbach due $125 via NewDot

Treating this as a followup, comment/reopen if you disagree. Followup cuz of the breakdown from @ijmalik here

@ijmalik can you please accept the job below? Please reply here and tag me once you have.
https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022069128613906233002

@mallenexpensify

@mallenexpensify Huh... This is 4 days overdue. Who can take care of this?

@mallenexpensify

@mallenexpensify Done – I've accepted the job here . Thanks!

@ijmalik

@ijmalik paid, summary updated above. Thx.

When paying I found a duplicate contract I cancelled too. Apologies for that.

@ZhenjaHorbach

$125 approved for @ZhenjaHorbach

Navigation Menu

Repository navigation

[Due for payment 2026-06-12] [$250] Expense - Colon symbol category cannot be selected as category #91133

Action Performed:

Expected Result:

Actual Result:

Workaround:

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

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

What alternative solutions did you explore?

49 remaining items

Payment Summary

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

[Due for payment 2026-06-12] [$250] Expense - Colon symbol category cannot be selected as category #91133

Description

Action Performed:

Expected Result:

Actual Result:

Workaround:

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Activity

applause-bot commented on May 19, 2026

melvin-bot commented on May 19, 2026

melvin-bot commented on May 19, 2026

github-actions commented on May 19, 2026

MelvinBot commented on May 19, 2026

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

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

What alternative solutions did you explore?

ijmalik commented on May 20, 2026

ZhenjaHorbach commented on May 20, 2026

yuwenmemon commented on May 20, 2026

49 remaining items

ijmalik commented on Jun 22, 2026

mallenexpensify commented on Jun 22, 2026

mallenexpensify commented on Jun 22, 2026

Payment Summary

melvin-bot commented on Jun 22, 2026

ijmalik commented on Jun 23, 2026

mallenexpensify commented on Jun 23, 2026

garrettmknight commented on Jun 29, 2026

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Issue actions