[Due for payment 2026-02-19] [$250] Report - "Waiting for you to add expenses" in empty report is not translated

[lanitochka17]

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Version Number: v9.3.2-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #75261
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): Any new account
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Pull Request QA execution
Device used: Macbook Pro 2023 / Sequoia 15.2
App Component: Chat Report View

Action Performed:

Precond: Users device is set to Spanish

1. Access www.staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to Reports > Reports > Create an empty Report and click on it
3. Observe the "Waiting for you to add expenses" text

Expected Result:

User expects this line to be translated

Actual Result:

Appears in English

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7049455_1768430286918.Text_not_translated.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022011593758031610412
• Upwork Job ID: 2011593758031610412
• Last Price Increase: 2026-01-15
• Automatic offers:
• aimane-chnaif | Reviewer | 110237575
• MobileMage | Contributor | 110237576

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @brianlee-expensify

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @brianlee-expensify (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.

[MobileMage]

Proposal

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

"Waiting for you to add expenses" message in empty reports is not translated when device is set to Spanish (or any non-English language).

What is the root cause of that problem?

There are two next step systems in the codebase:

1. New system (ReportNextStep with messageKey) - uses translation keys like CONST.NEXT_STEP.MESSAGE_KEY.WAITING_TO_ADD_TRANSACTIONS that get translated via buildNextStepMessage() with translate()

2. Deprecated system (ReportNextStepDeprecated with message array) - builds hardcoded English strings directly in buildNextStepNew() at src/libs/NextStepUtils.ts

The MoneyReportHeaderStatusBar component receives the deprecated format from Onyx (ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.NEXT_STEP) and uses parseMessage() which just renders the English text as-is - no translation happens.

Looking at buildNextStepNew() lines 507-529:

optimisticNextStep = {
    type,
    icon: CONST.NEXT_STEP.ICONS.HOURGLASS,
    message: [
        { text: 'Waiting for ' },  // <- hardcoded English
        { text: `${ownerDisplayName}`, type: 'strong' },
        { text: ' to ' },          // <- hardcoded English
        { text: 'add' },           // <- hardcoded English
        { text: ' %expenses.' },   // <- hardcoded English
    ],
};

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

Modify MoneyReportHeaderStatusBar to use the new translation system:

1. Accept both nextStep (deprecated) and nextStepNew (new format with messageKey) props
2. When nextStepNew is available, use buildNextStepMessage() with translate() to get translated text
3. Fall back to parseMessage() for deprecated format

In src/components/MoneyReportHeaderStatusBar.tsx:

import {buildNextStepMessage} from '@libs/NextStepUtils';
import useLocalize from '@hooks/useLocalize';

function MoneyReportHeaderStatusBar({nextStep, nextStepNew}) {
    const {translate} = useLocalize();
    const currentUserAccountID = useCurrentUserPersonalDetails().accountID;
    
    const messageContent = useMemo(() => {
        if (nextStepNew?.messageKey) {
            return buildNextStepMessage(nextStepNew, translate, currentUserAccountID);
        }
        return parseMessage(nextStep?.message, currentUserEmail);
    }, [nextStep, nextStepNew, translate, currentUserAccountID]);
    // ...
}

Then update callers to pass both formats during migration.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Could modify buildNextStepNew() to use translate() directly when building message arrays, but that would require passing translate through many call sites. Using the new messageKey system is the intended migration path.

[duckemiah]

Proposal

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

"Waiting for you to add expenses" in empty reports is not translated when device language is set to Spanish/other languages.

What is the root cause of that problem?

MoneyReportHeader reads from deprecated ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.NEXT_STEP which contains hardcoded English strings built by buildNextStepNew() in src/libs/NextStepUtils.ts:

message: [
    { text: 'Waiting for ' },  // hardcoded
    { text: `${ownerDisplayName}`, type: 'strong' },
    { text: ' to ' },
    { text: isReportContainingTransactions ? 'submit' : 'add' },
    { text: ' %expenses.' },
],

A new translation-aware system already exists:

• buildOptimisticNextStep() generates Report.nextStep with messageKey for translations
• buildNextStepMessage() translates using translate()
• Translations exist in all language files (es.ts has them at lines 1263-1272)

The new format is stored on Report.nextStep but the UI never reads it.

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

Update MoneyReportHeaderStatusBar.tsx to use the new translatable format:

1. Add nextStepNew prop for the new Report.nextStep format
2. In the messageContent useMemo, check for nextStepNew?.messageKey first and use buildNextStepMessage() with translate()
3. Fall back to deprecated format if new one isn't available

In MoneyReportHeader.tsx, pass the new format:

-<MoneyReportHeaderStatusBar nextStep={optimisticNextStep} />
+<MoneyReportHeaderStatusBar nextStep={optimisticNextStep} nextStepNew={moneyRequestReport?.nextStep} />

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Could modify buildNextStepNew() to accept a translate function, but that would require threading it through many call sites. The new messageKey system already exists for exactly this purpose - just need to wire it up.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022011593758031610412

[melvin-bot]

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

[yatin-italy]

🚫 Duplicated proposal withdrawn by 🤖 ProposalPolice.

[github-actions]

⚠️ @yatin-italy Your proposal is a duplicate of an already existing proposal and has been automatically withdrawn to prevent spam. Please review the existing proposals before submitting a new one.

[abdul-samad-91]

🚫 Duplicated proposal withdrawn by 🤖 ProposalPolice.