[Due for payment 2025-08-11] [$250] Split scan - Description with mark down is displayed in HTML tags on the expense preview

[vincdargento]

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Version Number: 9.1.79-7
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: https://expensify.testrail.io/index.php?/tests/view/6467090
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): applausetester+sdsdk90s@applause.expensifail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Mac 15.5 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.expensify.com
2. Open 1:1 DM.
3. Click + > Split expense > Scan.
4. Upload a photo.
5. On the confirmation page, click Description.
6. Enter text with any mark down and save it.
7. Click Split expense.
8. Click on the split preview.
9. Manually enter amount and save it.

Expected Result:

Description with mark down will be rendered properly in mark down.

Actual Result:

Description with mark down is displayed in HTML tags on the expense preview and transaction thread.

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

bug.mp4

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• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021944911737496561361
• Upwork Job ID: 1944911737496561361
• Last Price Increase: 2025-07-22
• Automatic offers:
• mkzie2 | Contributor | 108167783

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @RachCHopkins

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @RachCHopkins (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.

[mkzie2]

Proposal

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

Description with mark down is displayed in HTML tags on the expense preview and transaction thread.

What is the root cause of that problem?

When we complete the split bill without changing the description, updatedTransaction?.comment?.comment is already the HTML tag, and it's parsed again here. So it's displayed as HTML tags on the expense preview.

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 6924 to 6929 in ccfdb74

	const parsedComment = getParsedComment(updatedTransaction?.comment?.comment ?? '');
	if (updatedTransaction?.comment) {
	// eslint-disable-next-line no-param-reassign
	updatedTransaction.comment.comment = parsedComment;
	}
	const currentUserEmailForIOUSplit = addSMSDomainIfPhoneNumber(sessionEmail);

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

We should convert to markdown first to ensure the parsedComment is correct.

const parsedComment = getParsedComment(Parser.htmlToMarkdown(updatedTransaction?.comment?.comment ?? ''));

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 6924 to 6929 in ccfdb74

	const parsedComment = getParsedComment(updatedTransaction?.comment?.comment ?? '');
	if (updatedTransaction?.comment) {
	// eslint-disable-next-line no-param-reassign
	updatedTransaction.comment.comment = parsedComment;
	}
	const currentUserEmailForIOUSplit = addSMSDomainIfPhoneNumber(sessionEmail);

What specific scenarios should we cover in automated tests to prevent reintroducing this issue in the future?

Update completeSplitBill unit test and verify the comment is correct format

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.

[dmkt9]

Proposal

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

Description with mark down is displayed in HTML tags on the expense preview and transaction thread.

What is the root cause of that problem?

1. When any field of a split transaction is changed, it is saved as a draft using the setDraftSplitTransaction utility.
   

   App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

   Line 7172 in d40d0af

   function setDraftSplitTransaction(transactionID: string | undefined, transactionChanges: TransactionChanges = {}, policy?: OnyxEntry<OnyxTypes.Policy>) {

2. Inside setDraftSplitTransaction, if the draft transaction does not exist, it looks up the original transaction to create the draft.
   

   App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

   Lines 7178 to 7183 in d40d0af

   	if (!draftSplitTransaction) {
   	draftSplitTransaction = allTransactions[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.TRANSACTION}${transactionID}`];
   	}
   	const updatedTransaction = draftSplitTransaction
   	? getUpdatedTransaction({

   
   And with this transaction the comment sent from the server is in html format.

3. In the getUpdatedTransaction function, when creating the draft transaction, the comment is not converted back to markdown but stored directly as HTML. This causes the server to escape it again on upload, resulting in:
   

   App/src/components/ReportActionItem/TransactionPreview/TransactionPreviewContent.tsx

   Line 127 in d40d0af

   const description = truncate(StringUtils.lineBreaksToSpaces(Parser.htmlToText(requestComment ?? '')), {length: CONST.REQUEST_PREVIEW.MAX_LENGTH});

   
   returning an HTML string.

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

Ensure that comments are converted back to markdown here:

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 7178 to 7180 in d40d0af

	if (!draftSplitTransaction) {
	draftSplitTransaction = allTransactions[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.TRANSACTION}${transactionID}`];
	}

if (!draftSplitTransaction) {
    draftSplitTransaction = allTransactions[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.TRANSACTION}${transactionID}`];
    if (draftSplitTransaction?.comment?.comment) {
        draftSplitTransaction.comment = {
            ...draftSplitTransaction.comment,
            comment: Parser.htmlToMarkdown(draftSplitTransaction.comment.comment),
        };
    }
}

What specific scenarios should we cover in automated tests to prevent reintroducing this issue in the future?

Add a test for getUpdatedTransaction và setDraftSplitTransaction to cover this scenario.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Ensure that comments are converted back to markdown whenever the description field hasn’t changed.

App/src/libs/TransactionUtils/index.ts

Lines 400 to 405 in d40d0af

	if (Object.hasOwn(transactionChanges, 'comment')) {
	updatedTransaction.comment = {
	...updatedTransaction.comment,
	comment: transactionChanges.comment,
	};
	}

if (Object.hasOwn(transactionChanges, 'comment')) {
    updatedTransaction.comment = {
        ...updatedTransaction.comment,
        comment: transactionChanges.comment,
    };
} else if (updatedTransaction.comment?.comment) {
    updatedTransaction.comment = {
        ...updatedTransaction.comment,
        comment: Parser.htmlToMarkdown(updatedTransaction.comment?.comment),
    };
}

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.

[PiyushChandra17]

Proposal

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

Split scan - Description with mark down is displayed in HTML tags on the expense preview

What is the root cause of that problem?

Currently we are passing shouldRenderAsHTML prop here

App/src/components/ReportActionItem/MoneyRequestView.tsx

Line 654 in 509bd7b

shouldRenderAsHTML

which is instead of text it is using highly rich text as RenderHTML
now,

App/src/components/MenuItem.tsx

Line 577 in 509bd7b

return titleToWrap ? `<comment>${titleToWrap}</comment>` : '';

This line is the root cause, we need to replace HTML with markdown

Root cause: This issue was introduced when we added RenderHTML here

App/src/components/MenuItem.tsx

Line 830 in 509bd7b

<RenderHTML html={processedTitle} />

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

Update this line

App/src/components/MenuItem.tsx

Line 577 in 509bd7b

return titleToWrap ? `<comment>${titleToWrap}</comment>` : '';

with,

titleToWrap ? Parser.htmlToMarkdown(`<comment>${titleToWrap}</comment>`) : '';

What specific scenarios should we cover in automated tests to prevent reintroducing this issue in the future?

N/A

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

N/A

Result

Description before

Description after

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.

[melvin-bot]

@RachCHopkins Whoops! This issue is 2 days overdue. Let's get this updated quick!

[RachCHopkins]

I don't think people would use markdown headers in an expense description. But if they did for some really weird reason, we should just render it as/convert to Bold or nothing at all.

We should do that with anything that is not supported. e.g. if customer was to paste in something from a web listing, we should make it plain IMO.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021944911737496561361