This addresses two issues:

     1. Include non-matching DMs in Spotlight suggestions if the userId of the DM is included in the user directory search results
     2. The user directory search results order is kept when there is no relevant activity between users, instead of sorting by MXID

src/components/views/dialogs/spotlight/SpotlightDialog.tsx

@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ import { WebSearch as WebSearchEvent } from "@matrix-org/analytics-events/types/
 import classNames from "classnames";
 import { capitalize, sum } from "lodash";
 import { IHierarchyRoom } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/@types/spaces";
-import { IPublicRoomsChunkRoom, MatrixClient, RoomMember, RoomType, Room } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/matrix";
+import { IPublicRoomsChunkRoom, MatrixClient, RoomMember, RoomType } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/matrix";
+import { Room } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/models/room";
 import { normalize } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/utils";
 import React, { ChangeEvent, RefObject, useCallback, useContext, useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import sanitizeHtml from "sanitize-html";
@@ -406,12 +407,17 @@ const SpotlightDialog: React.FC<IProps> = ({ initialText = "", initialFilter = n
 
             possibleResults.forEach((entry) => {
                 if (isRoomResult(entry)) {
-                    if (
-                        !entry.room.normalizedName?.includes(normalizedQuery) &&
-                        !entry.room.getCanonicalAlias()?.toLowerCase().includes(lcQuery) &&
-                        !entry.query?.some((q) => q.includes(lcQuery))
-                    )
-                        return; // bail, does not match query
+                    // Check if the DM userId is part of the user directory results, if so keep it
+                    const userId = DMRoomMap.shared().getUserIdForRoomId(entry.room.roomId);
+                    if (!users.some((user) => user.userId === userId)) {
+                        if (
+                            !entry.room.normalizedName?.includes(normalizedQuery) &&
+                            !entry.room.getCanonicalAlias()?.toLowerCase().includes(lcQuery) &&
+                            !entry.query?.some((q) => q.includes(lcQuery))
+                        ) {
+                            return; // bail, does not match query
+                        }
+                    }
                 } else if (isMemberResult(entry)) {
                     if (!entry.alreadyFiltered && !entry.query?.some((q) => q.includes(lcQuery))) return; // bail, does not match query
                 } else if (isPublicRoomResult(entry)) {

src/utils/SortMembers.ts

@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 import { groupBy, mapValues, maxBy, minBy, sumBy, takeRight } from "lodash";
 import { MatrixClient, Room, RoomMember } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/matrix";
-import { compare } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/utils";
 
 import { Member } from "./direct-messages";
 import DMRoomMap from "./DMRoomMap";
@@ -39,7 +38,9 @@ export const compareMembers =
 
         if (aScore === bScore) {
             if (aNumRooms === bNumRooms) {
-                return compare(a.userId, b.userId);
+                // If there is no activity between members, 
+                // keep the order received from the user directory search results
+                return 0;
             }
 
             return bNumRooms - aNumRooms;

test/components/views/dialogs/SpotlightDialog-test.tsx

@@ -137,6 +137,9 @@ describe("Spotlight Dialog", () => {
     };
 
     let testRoom: Room;
+    let testDMRoomId = "!testDM:example.com";
+    let testDMUserId = "@alice:matrix.org"
+    let testDM: Room;
     let testLocalRoom: LocalRoom;
 
     let mockedClient: MatrixClient;
@@ -152,6 +155,19 @@ describe("Spotlight Dialog", () => {
         jest.spyOn(DMRoomMap, "shared").mockReturnValue({
             getUserIdForRoomId: jest.fn(),
         } as unknown as DMRoomMap);
+
+        testDM = mkRoom(mockedClient, testDMRoomId)
+        testDM.name = "Chat with Alice";
+        mocked(testDM.getMyMembership).mockReturnValue("join");
+
+        mocked(DMRoomMap.shared().getUserIdForRoomId).mockImplementation((roomId: string) => {
+            if (roomId === testDMRoomId) {
+              return testDMUserId;
+            }
+            return undefined;
+        });
+
+        mocked(mockedClient.getVisibleRooms).mockReturnValue([testRoom, testLocalRoom, testDM]);
     });
 
     describe("should apply filters supplied via props", () => {
@@ -384,6 +400,48 @@ describe("Spotlight Dialog", () => {
         expect(options[1]).toHaveTextContent("User Beta");
     });
 
+    it("show non-matching query members with DMs if they are present in the server search results", async () => {
+        mocked(mockedClient.searchUserDirectory).mockResolvedValue({
+            results: [
+                { user_id: testDMUserId, display_name: "Alice Wonder", avatar_url: "mxc://1/avatar" },
+                { user_id: "@bob:matrix.org", display_name: "Bob Wonder", avatar_url: "mxc://2/avatar" },
+            ],
+            limited: false,
+        });
+        render(<SpotlightDialog initialFilter={Filter.People} initialText="Something Wonder" onFinished={() => null} />);
+        // search is debounced
+        jest.advanceTimersByTime(200);
+        await flushPromisesWithFakeTimers();
+
+        const content = document.querySelector("#mx_SpotlightDialog_content")!;
+        const options = content.querySelectorAll("li.mx_SpotlightDialog_option");
+        expect(options.length).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(2);
+        expect(options[0]).toHaveTextContent(testDMUserId);
+        expect(options[1]).toHaveTextContent("Bob Wonder");
+    });
+
+    it("don't sort the order of users sent by the server", async () => {
+        var serverList = [
+            { user_id: "@user2:server", display_name: "User Beta", avatar_url: "mxc://2/avatar" },
+            { user_id: "@user1:server", display_name: "User Alpha", avatar_url: "mxc://1/avatar" },
+        ]
+        mocked(mockedClient.searchUserDirectory).mockResolvedValue({
+            results: serverList,
+            limited: false,
+        });
+
+        render(<SpotlightDialog initialFilter={Filter.People} initialText="User" onFinished={() => null} />);
+        // search is debounced
+        jest.advanceTimersByTime(200);
+        await flushPromisesWithFakeTimers();
+
+        const content = document.querySelector("#mx_SpotlightDialog_content")!;
+        const options = content.querySelectorAll("li.mx_SpotlightDialog_option");
+        expect(options.length).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(2);
+        expect(options[0]).toHaveTextContent("User Beta");
+        expect(options[1]).toHaveTextContent("User Alpha");
+    });
+
     it("should start a DM when clicking a person", async () => {
         render(
             <SpotlightDialog