[FEATURE REQUEST] Optional sorting for property-list captures, with date-aware duplicate comparison #2236

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I use QuickAdd to record habit completions in a note's complete_instances list. Each completion adds today's date in YYYY-MM-DD format

Property Capture now handles most of this, but I still need a user script to keep the list sorted. This matters when dates are entered out of order or an earlier completion is added later. My script also compares existing non-string date values as calendar dates before deciding whether today is already present.

I'd like to configure this in QuickAdd instead of maintaining a separate script. Sorting would also be useful for other list properties, independently of the date-handling part of this request.

Describe the solution you'd like

Two optional capabilities for captures that write to list properties:

1. Sort the resulting list
   preserve existing order by default, with opt-in ascending and descending sorting. Text sorting would cover consistently formatted YYYY-MM-DD dates as well as ordinary text lists. Apply sorting after combining the existing and captured items and removing duplicates for both Add to list and Set value.
2. Compare date entries consistently
   an explicit date-list mode that can recognize supported representations of the same calendar date when checking for duplicates, separate from ordinary text deduplication

adding 2026-10-11 to list with ascending sorting enabled

complete_instances:
  - "2026-10-10"
  - "2026-10-12"

would produce

complete_instances:
  - "2026-10-10"
  - "2026-10-11"
  - "2026-10-12"

Adding 2026-10-11 again would leave the values unchanged.

Describe alternatives you've considered

• Keep the current user script. It works, but duplicates behavior that otherwise fits property Capture.
• Use Add to list with {{DATE:YYYY-MM-DD}}. This covers normal completions and duplicate avoidance, but does not keep out-of-order dates sorted.
• Use {{PROPERTY}} to place new values before or after existing ones. That controls insertion position, but does not determine where a date belongs within the list.
• Put the sorting logic in an inline script using propertyValue or list. This avoids a separate file, but still leaves custom code to maintain.
• Clean up existing date representations once and always append completions chronologically. This is sufficient for a simpler workflow, but does not handle later corrections or backfilled dates.

Additional context
Related work:

• #1756: Each line of a property capture value is its own list item provides multiline list handling and duplicate removal.
• #1762: {{PROPERTY}} token for property Captures provides composition and insertion-order control.
• #1365: Ordered section placement for reverse-chronological logs related sorting behavior for Markdown sections rather than property values.

I searched open and closed issues, pull requests, and discussions and did not find an exact request for property-list sorting with date-aware duplicate comparison.