Fix: Keyboard Navigation: Paid expense details: The content is focused in a confusing order

[annaweber830]

Explanation of Change

Fix Keyboard Navigation: Paid expense details: The content is focused in a confusing order

Fixed Issues

$#76923
PROPOSAL:#76923 (comment)

Tests

1. Using Chrome+JAWS, open the URL: https://new.expensify.com/
2. Navigate using the tab key to the Create expense button on the Left side navigation and press Enter to activate it.
3. Tab to focus on the Currency field and enter an amount(eg, 250) and activate the Next button.
4. In the Confirm dialog, Tab to focus on the Merchant button and press Enter to activate it.
5. Tab to focus on the Edit field and enter the Merchant name, and save it.
6. Tab to focus on the Create expense button and press Enter to activate it.
7. In the Inbox tab, focus on the created expense message and activate it.
8. Tab to focus on one of the create expense reports and press Enter to activate it.
9. In the Paid expense modal, navigate using the tab key and observe the keyboard focus.
10. Check tab focus order.

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

Same as test

QA Steps

// TODO: These must be filled out, or the issue title must include "[No QA]."

1. Using Chrome+JAWS, open the URL: https://new.expensify.com/
2. Navigate using the tab key to the Create expense button on the Left side navigation and press Enter to activate it.
3. Tab to focus on the Currency field and enter an amount(eg, 250) and activate the Next button.
4. In the Confirm dialog, Tab to focus on the Merchant button and press Enter to activate it.
5. Tab to focus on the Edit field and enter the Merchant name, and save it.
6. Tab to focus on the Create expense button and press Enter to activate it.
7. In the Inbox tab, focus on the created expense message and activate it.
8. Tab to focus on one of the create expense reports and press Enter to activate it.
9. In the Paid expense modal, navigate using the tab key and observe the keyboard focus.
10. Check tab focus order.

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

• I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
• I wrote clear testing steps that cover the changes made in this PR
  • I added steps for local testing in the Tests section
  • I added steps for the expected offline behavior in the Offline steps section
  • I added steps for Staging and/or Production testing in the QA steps section
  • I added steps to cover failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
  • I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
  • I tested this PR with a High Traffic account against the staging or production API to ensure there are no regressions (e.g. long loading states that impact usability).
• I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
• I ran the tests on all platforms & verified they passed on:
  • Android: Native
  • Android: mWeb Chrome
  • iOS: Native
  • iOS: mWeb Safari
  • MacOS: Chrome / Safari
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-01-21.at.6.54.37.AM.mov

[melvin-bot]

@eVoloshchak Please copy/paste the Reviewer Checklist from here into a new comment on this PR and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]

[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Looks like you've decreased code coverage for some files. Please write tests to increase, or at least maintain, the existing level of code coverage. See our documentation here for how to interpret this table.

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/CONST/index.ts	95.20% <ø> (+4.79%)	⬆️
src/components/PrevNextButtons.tsx	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
src/pages/inbox/report/PureReportActionItem.tsx	56.58% <100.00%> (-0.22%)	⬇️
src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsView.tsx	77.50% <ø> (-3.22%)	⬇️
src/hooks/useReportScrollManager/index.native.ts	75.00% <87.50%> (+5.00%)	⬆️
src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsList.tsx	79.34% <95.91%> (+1.93%)	⬆️
src/hooks/useReportScrollManager/index.ts	0.00% <0.00%> (ø)
... and 113 files with indirect coverage changes

[trjExpensify]

Small accessibility update 👍

[eVoloshchak]

@annaweber830, this isn't the approach that was initially approved in #76923 (comment)

Previous button: tabIndex={1}
Next button: tabIndex={2}
This ensures they receive focus before elements with default tabIndex={0} (expense details)

Does this approach have any caveats?

[annaweber830]

Hi @eVoloshchak
Because setting tabIndex to any truthy value (like 1 or 2) actually makes the element unfocusable.
Specifically,

App/src/components/Pressable/GenericPressable/implementation/index.tsx

Lines 10 to 16 in f251b86

	<GenericPressable
	// eslint-disable-next-line react/jsx-props-no-spreading
	{...props}
	ref={ref}
	// change native accessibility props to web accessibility props
	focusable={focusable}
	tabIndex={(props.tabIndex ?? (!accessible || !focusable)) ? -1 : 0}

So when PrevNextButtons passed tabIndex={1} / tabIndex={2}, that expression became truthy → tabIndex was forced to -1, removing the chevrons from the tab order. That’s consistent with the behavior you’re seeing: focus skips past the chevrons and lands on elements lower in the section first.
Separately, positive tabIndex is generally an accessibility anti-pattern (it overrides natural DOM order). The correct fix is to keep the chevrons tabbable (tabIndex omitted → defaults to 0) and rely on render/DOM order for a meaningful sequence.

[eVoloshchak]

and rely on render/DOM order for a meaningful sequence.

Yeah, I suspect that will be the hard part. We might want to find a more universal approach for this, the problem is app-wide.
This still focuses in a confusing order, the conversation message first, the composer is last

Screen.Recording.2026-01-26.at.20.49.02.mov

[annaweber830]

Hi @eVoloshchak Please check again. On my side, this code works correctly.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dcaaee44-4767-440e-b253-a2119f925d10

[eVoloshchak]

@annaweber830, this works for some expenses, but not for others, weird. Here I isolated two expenses:

Screen.Recording.2026-02-05.at.12.14.58.mov

[annaweber830]

Hi @eVoloshchak I will ready PR tomorrow.

[annaweber830]

Hi @eVoloshchak I updated my PR.

[lakchote]

@annaweber830 the jest tests are failing could you please take a look?

[annaweber830]

Hi @lakchote I updated PR.

[lakchote]

LGTM

[github-actions]

🚧 @lakchote has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

[github-actions]

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #80122.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-android-Adhoc-84815b8-04b7b10-42b0d6122d78c4b55b2dc52c0031e54f3efcce18/index.html	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-84815b8-04b7b10-e1e5ef8902ff36f58bd5edf17d05e2151bb54dc0/index.html

Web 🕸️
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---

👀 View the workflow run that generated this build 👀

[VickyStash]

Hi there! I've noticed several things coming from this PR:

1. Wrong chat alignment

2. When I add an emoji to the bottom message, it's not shown fully till you scroll to the bottom

Monosnap.screencast.2026-03-31.09-41-47.mp4

3. Keyboard on ios hides the content on open (on prod it shifts the content up)

Simulator.Screen.Recording.-.iPhone.17.Pro.-.2026-03-31.at.09.46.27.mp4

4. Transaction threads jumps and opened at the bottom (not at the top, as on prod)

Simulator.Screen.Recording.-.iPhone.17.Pro.-.2026-03-31.at.16.24.02.mov

[OSBotify]

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/lakchote in version: 9.3.51-0 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

Bundle Size Analysis (Sentry):

• Android
• iOS

[MelvinBot]

🤖 Help Site Review: No changes required

I reviewed all changes in this PR against the help site articles under docs/articles/. This PR is an internal accessibility bug fix that:

• Switches from InvertedFlatList to a non-inverted FlatListWithScrollKey to fix DOM/tab order
• Improves accessibility labels on Prev/Next navigation buttons
• Adjusts scroll behavior for the non-inverted list
• Simplifies accessibility label construction in PureReportActionItem

I searched the help site for any articles covering keyboard navigation, focus order, tab order, accessibility, or screen reader behavior — none of the existing articles document these internal behaviors.

Conclusion: No changes to docs/articles/ are needed. This PR does not affect any user-facing feature names, settings labels, button text, workflows, or documented behavior.

[mitarachim]

Deploy Blocker #86794 was identified to be related to this PR.

[m-natarajan]

Able to reproduce the issue when a Concierge comment is present. The navigation starts from that comment and then moves to the fields above. The Concierge option buttons are not announced at all.
Mac 15.4.1 Safari, v9.3.51-9

124.mp4

[lakchote]

^ cc @annaweber830 @eVoloshchak

[OSBotify]

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/jasperhuangg in version: 9.3.51-10 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	failure ❌
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

[OSBotify]

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/lakchote in version: 9.3.52-0 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

Bundle Size Analysis (Sentry):

• Android
• iOS

[MelvinBot]

No help site changes are required for this PR.

This PR is a keyboard navigation/accessibility fix that corrects the tab focus order in paid expense details when using screen readers. The changes are limited to internal React component logic (focus management, scroll behavior, test IDs) and do not:

• Add, rename, or remove any user-facing features
• Change any UI labels, settings, or button text
• Modify any user workflows documented in the help site
• Introduce new pages or navigation paths

The existing help site articles do not document keyboard navigation behavior at this level of detail, so no updates are needed.

[OSBotify]

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/roryabraham in version: 9.3.52-9 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅