diff --git a/TODOs.md b/TODOs.md
index a71ecb0fb..0b9cefc54 100644
--- a/TODOs.md
+++ b/TODOs.md
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@ TODOs for category feature
 ==========================
 
 - add backend test? how?
+- sort results of backend functions which return list of category path
 - how should be abbreviate some of these long category names?
 - the API calling functions have a lot of copy&paste code. Let's create some generic helper functions for API calls
 - eval use of WITH RECURSIVE..SEARCH for category_path()
+- do not show
+- make add_category recursive (only one parameter)
 
 DB tests
 ========
@@ -17,4 +20,10 @@ DB tests
 FE tests
 ========
 
-- ?
\ No newline at end of file
+- ?
+
+
+More ideas for later
+====================
+
+- assign a category to a software: add a search field
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frontend/components/software/SoftwareCategories.tsx b/frontend/components/software/SoftwareCategories.tsx
index e76348826..40bbc236b 100644
--- a/frontend/components/software/SoftwareCategories.tsx
+++ b/frontend/components/software/SoftwareCategories.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: EUPL-1.2
 
 import CategoryIcon from '@mui/icons-material/Category'
-import { CategoriesForSoftware, CategoryID, CategoryPath } from '../../types/SoftwareTypes'
+import { CategoriesForSoftware, CategoryEntry, CategoryID, CategoryPath } from '../../types/SoftwareTypes'
 import TagChipFilter from '../layout/TagChipFilter'
 import { ssrSoftwareUrl } from '~/utils/postgrestUrl'
 import logger from '../../utils/logger'
@@ -19,6 +19,43 @@ const interleave = <T,>(arr: T[], createElement: (index: number) => T) => arr.re
 }, [] as T[]);
 
 
+type CategoryTreeLevel = {
+  cat: CategoryEntry
+  children: CategoryTreeLevel[]
+}
+
+function CategoryTree({ categories }: { categories: CategoryPath[] }) {
+
+  const tree: CategoryTreeLevel[] = []
+  for (const path of categories) {
+    let cursor = tree
+    for (const item of path) {
+      const found = cursor.find(el => el.cat.id == item.id)
+      if (!found) {
+        const sub: CategoryTreeLevel = { cat: item, children: [] }
+        cursor.push(sub)
+        cursor = sub.children
+      } else {
+        cursor = found.children
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  const TreeLevel = ({ items, indent = false }: { items: CategoryTreeLevel[], indent?: boolean }) => {
+    return <ul className={"list-disc list-inside" + (indent ? ' pl-9 -indent-4' : '')}>
+      {items.map(item => (
+        <li>
+          {item.cat.short_name}
+          {item.children.length > 0 && <TreeLevel items={item.children} indent />}
+        </li>
+      ))}
+    </ul>
+  }
+
+  return <TreeLevel items={tree} />
+
+}
+
 export type SelectedCategory = {
   index: number
   id: CategoryID
@@ -75,6 +112,20 @@ export function SoftwareCategories({ categories, buttonTitle, onClick }: Softwar
         </div>
       )
     })}
+    <div className='clear-both'></div>
+
+    <div className='mt-5 italic'>other variant using TagChipFilter:</div>
+    {categories.map((path, index) => {
+      const text = path.map((category) => category.short_name).join(' :: ')
+      return (
+        <div className='my-1'>
+          <TagChipFilter url="" key={index} label={text} title={text} />
+        </div>
+      )
+    })}
+
+    <div className='mt-5 italic'>other variant using a tree:</div>
+    <CategoryTree categories={categories} />
   </div>
 }
 
diff --git a/frontend/components/software/edit/information/AutosaveSoftwareCategories.tsx b/frontend/components/software/edit/information/AutosaveSoftwareCategories.tsx
index cd9024487..b2da8db0a 100644
--- a/frontend/components/software/edit/information/AutosaveSoftwareCategories.tsx
+++ b/frontend/components/software/edit/information/AutosaveSoftwareCategories.tsx
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export default function AutosaveSoftwareCategories({ softwareId, categories: def
   const [availableCategoryPaths, setAvailableCategoryPaths] = useState<CategoryPath[]>([])
 
   const categoryMap = useMemo(() => {
-    const map:Record<CategoryID, number> = {}
+    const map: Record<CategoryID, number> = {}
     for (const [index, path] of availableCategoryPaths.entries()) {
       const leafCategory = leaf(path)
       map[leafCategory.id] = index
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ export default function AutosaveSoftwareCategories({ softwareId, categories: def
   }
 
   const onAdd: ChangeEventHandler<HTMLSelectElement> = (event) => {
-    const categoryIdx = parseInt(event.  target.value ?? '')
+    const categoryIdx = parseInt(event.target.value ?? '')
     if (isNaN(categoryIdx)) return
     const path = availableCategoryPaths[categoryIdx]
     const categoryId = path[path.length - 1].id
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ export default function AutosaveSoftwareCategories({ softwareId, categories: def
       <div className="py-2">
         <SoftwareCategories categories={categoryPaths} onClick={onDelete} buttonTitle="delete" />
         <select className="p-2 mt-3 w-full" onChange={onAdd}>
-          <option value="none">click to add more categories</option>
+          <option value="none">click to assign categories</option>
           {availableCategoryPaths.map((categoryPath, index) => <option key={index} value={index}>{categoryPath.map(cat => cat.short_name).join(' :: ')}</option>)}
         </select>
       </div>
diff --git a/frontend/utils/getSoftware.ts b/frontend/utils/getSoftware.ts
index 0e6f74c96..1ddb4cd27 100644
--- a/frontend/utils/getSoftware.ts
+++ b/frontend/utils/getSoftware.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export async function getSoftwareList({url,token}:{url:string,token?:string }){
         count: extractCountFromHeader(resp.headers),
         data: json
       }
-    } else{
+    } else {
       logger(`getSoftwareList failed: ${resp.status} ${resp.statusText} ${url}`, 'warn')
       return {
         count:0,
@@ -210,12 +210,12 @@ export async function getKeywordsForSoftware(uuid:string,frontend?:boolean,token
   }
 }
 
-function prepareQueryURL(path:string, params:Record<string, string> = {}) {
+function prepareQueryURL(path: string, params: Record<string, string> = {}) {
   // FIXME: database URL?
   //const baseURL = 'http://localhost:3000/api/v1' // process.env.POSTGREST_URL // getBaseUrl()
   const baseURL = getBaseUrl()
   logger(`prepareQueryURL baseURL:${baseURL}`)
-  return `${baseURL}${path}?`+ Object.keys(params).map((key) => `${key}=${encodeURIComponent(params[key])}`).join('&')
+  return `${baseURL}${path}?` + Object.keys(params).map((key) => `${key}=${encodeURIComponent(params[key])}`).join('&')
 }
 
 export async function getCategoriesForSoftware(software_id: string, token?: string): Promise<CategoriesForSoftware> {
@@ -238,6 +238,15 @@ export async function getCategoriesForSoftware(software_id: string, token?: stri
   return []
 }
 
+function compareCategoryPath(p1: CategoryPath, p2: CategoryPath) {
+  if (p1.length != p2.length) return p1.length - p2.length
+  for (let index = 0; index < p1.length; index++) {
+    const diff = p1[index].short_name.localeCompare(p2[index].short_name)
+    if (diff != 0) return diff
+  }
+  return 0
+}
+
 export async function getAvailableCategories(): Promise<CategoryPath[]> {
   try {
     const url = prepareQueryURL('/rpc/available_categories_expanded')
@@ -247,6 +256,8 @@ export async function getAvailableCategories(): Promise<CategoryPath[]> {
     if (resp.status === 200) {
       const data = await resp.json()
       // logger(`getAvailableCategories response: ${JSON.stringify(data)}`)
+      // FIXME: sorting should be done by backend
+      data.sort(compareCategoryPath)
       return data
     } else if (resp.status === 404) {
       logger(`getAvailableCategories: 404 [${url}]`, 'error')