[$125] Report - Word "You" missing on next step on expense created offline with instant submission

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.2.49-1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-1935/41236925/1008201663?q=instant&issue_type=jira
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): ibellicotest+2049@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Motorola MotoG60 / Android 12 / Chrome ( mWeb / Hybrid app) - Windows 11 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

Prerequisite: Account has at least one workspace.
Prerequisite 2: Submission frequency set to "Instantly"

1. Open the Expensify app.
2. Open any workspace chat.
3. Turn off internet connection.
4. Create a manual expense.
5. Open the report of the just created expense.
6. Note that next step message displays "Waiting for to approve expense" without "You"

Expected Result:

When creating an expense on a workspace with submission frequency set to "Instantly", next step message should be "Waiting for you to approve expense".

Actual Result:

After creating a manual expense while offline on a workspace with submissions frequency set to "Instantly", next step message is displayed as "Waiting for to approve expense" without the word "You".

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

1.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021988750606339448220
• Upwork Job ID: 1988750606339448220
• Last Price Increase: 2026-03-16

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @parasharrajat

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @mallenexpensify (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.

[etCoderDysto]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

Report - Word "You" missing on next step on expense created offline with instant submission

What is the root cause of that problem?

We call getNextApproverDisplayName to get the next approver display name. And we call getNextApproverAccountID to get approvers accountID.

App/src/libs/NextStepUtils.ts

Line 201 in 82a45ab

const nextApproverDisplayName = getNextApproverDisplayName(report, isUnapprove);

In getNextApproverAccountID, we assign the first approver in the approval chain if the current user is not in the approval chain. But in this case, the approver is the submitter and and the only approver on the approver chain. Therefore currentUserIndex is 0. And nextapproveremail will be undefined when we are trying to access approvalChain[1] while approvalChain have only one item

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Lines 4481 to 4482 in 82a45ab

	const currentUserIndex = approvalChain.indexOf(currentUserEmail ?? '');
	const nextApproverEmail = currentUserIndex === -1 ? approvalChain.at(0) : approvalChain.at(currentUserIndex + 1);

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

We should return the only approver as the next nextApproverEmail if the report is not approved yet

const hasOnlyApproverApproved = approvalChain.length === 1 && isReportApproved({report});
const nextApproverEmail = currentUserIndex === -1 || !hasOnlyApproverApproved ? approvalChain.at(0) : approvalChain.at(currentUserIndex + 1);

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[nkdengineer]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

After creating a manual expense while offline on a workspace with submissions frequency set to "Instantly", next step message is displayed as "Waiting for to approve expense" without the word "You".

What is the root cause of that problem?

When the last approver is the current user, we ignore this here

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Lines 4482 to 4488 in 82a45ab

	const nextApproverEmail = currentUserIndex === -1 ? approvalChain.at(0) : approvalChain.at(currentUserIndex + 1);
	if (!nextApproverEmail) {
	// If there's no next approver in the chain, return undefined to indicate the current user is the final approver
	return undefined;
	}

Which cause nextApproverDisplayName, approverAccountID are empty then the You word is missing

App/src/libs/NextStepUtils.ts

Lines 562 to 563 in 82a45ab

	const nextApproverDisplayName = getNextApproverDisplayName(report, isUnapprove);
	const approverAccountID = getNextApproverAccountID(report, isUnapprove);

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

Define shouldIgnoreCurrentUser param in getNextApproverAccountID and getNextApproverDisplayName.

Update this condition here to

const nextApproverEmail = currentUserIndex === -1 || !shouldIgnoreCurrentUser ? approvalChain.at(0) : approvalChain.at(currentUserIndex + 1);

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Lines 4482 to 4488 in 82a45ab

	const nextApproverEmail = currentUserIndex === -1 ? approvalChain.at(0) : approvalChain.at(currentUserIndex + 1);
	if (!nextApproverEmail) {
	// If there's no next approver in the chain, return undefined to indicate the current user is the final approver
	return undefined;
	}

Then pass it as false here

const nextApproverDisplayName = getNextApproverDisplayName(report, isUnapprove, false);
    const approverAccountID = getNextApproverAccountID(report, isUnapprove, false);

App/src/libs/NextStepUtils.ts

Lines 562 to 563 in 82a45ab

	const nextApproverDisplayName = getNextApproverDisplayName(report, isUnapprove);
	const approverAccountID = getNextApproverAccountID(report, isUnapprove);

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[lorretheboy]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

After creating a manual expense while offline on a workspace with submissions frequency set to "Instantly", next step message is displayed as "Waiting for to approve expense" without the word "You".

What is the root cause of that problem?

The root cause was that getNextApproverAccountID() returned undefined when the current user was the final/only approver. Thus

• nextApproverDisplayName to be empty
• The parseMessage() function couldn't match the empty display name to the current user's email
• The word "you" was never substituted, resulting in "Waiting for to approve expense"

App/src/libs/NextStepUtils.ts

Line 201 in 0040366

const nextApproverDisplayName = getNextApproverDisplayName(report, isUnapprove);

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Lines 4435 to 4440 in 13a73a7

	// If the current user took control, then they are the final approver and we don't have a next approver
	// If someone else took control or rerouted, they are the next approver
	const bypassApproverAccountID = getBypassApproverAccountIDIfTakenControl(report);
	if (bypassApproverAccountID) {
	return bypassApproverAccountID === currentUserAccountID && !isUnapproved ? undefined : bypassApproverAccountID;
	}

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

We should return currentUserAccountID instead of undefined

    // If the current user took control, then they are the final approver
    // If someone else took control or rerouted, they are the next approver
    const bypassApproverAccountID = getBypassApproverAccountIDIfTakenControl(report);
    if (bypassApproverAccountID) {
        return bypassApproverAccountID === currentUserAccountID && !isUnapproved ? currentUserAccountID : bypassApproverAccountID;
    }

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Lines 4435 to 4440 in 13a73a7

	// If the current user took control, then they are the final approver and we don't have a next approver
	// If someone else took control or rerouted, they are the next approver
	const bypassApproverAccountID = getBypassApproverAccountIDIfTakenControl(report);
	if (bypassApproverAccountID) {
	return bypassApproverAccountID === currentUserAccountID && !isUnapproved ? undefined : bypassApproverAccountID;
	}

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

We can separate function for getting current approver

function getCurrentApproverAccountID(report: OnyxEntry<Report>, isUnapproved = false) {
    // This will be fixed as part of https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/issues/507850
    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
    const policy = getPolicy(report?.policyID);

    // If the current user took control, then they are the current approver
    // If someone else took control or rerouted, they are the current approver
    const bypassApproverAccountID = getBypassApproverAccountIDIfTakenControl(report);
    if (bypassApproverAccountID) {
        return bypassApproverAccountID;
    }

    const approvalChain = getApprovalChain(policy, report);
    const submitToAccountID = getSubmitToAccountID(policy, report);

    if (isUnapproved) {
        if (approvalChain.includes(currentUserEmail ?? '')) {
            return currentUserAccountID;
        }

        return report?.managerID ?? submitToAccountID;
    }

    if (approvalChain.length === 0) {
        return submitToAccountID;
    }

    const currentUserIndex = approvalChain.indexOf(currentUserEmail ?? '');
    const nextApproverEmail = currentUserIndex === -1 ? approvalChain.at(0) : approvalChain.at(currentUserIndex + 1);

    if (!nextApproverEmail) {
        // If there's no next approver in the chain, the current user is the final approver
        return currentUserAccountID;
    }

    return getAccountIDsByLogins([nextApproverEmail]).at(0);
}

Then we can update getNextApproverAccountID to use getCurrentApproverAccountID

[melvin-bot]

⚠️ Could not update price automatically because there is no linked Upwork Job ID. The BZ team member will need to update the price manually in Upwork.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021988750606339448220

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @parasharrajat (External)

[mallenexpensify]

Think/hope this is a quick fix. Was able to reproduce