Fix ExpensiMark formatting display in MODIFIEDEXPENSE messages by deetergp · Pull Request #82057 · Expensify/App

deetergp · 2026-02-10T22:43:12Z

Explanation of Change

Fixes MODIFIEDEXPENSE system messages to properly render formatting (bold, italic, strikethrough) instead of showing as plain text or literal markdown markers.

When Concierge AI sets expense descriptions with ExpensiMark formatting (e.g., ~strikethrough~, *bold*, _italic_), the backend correctly stores them as HTML (<del>, , ). However, MODIFIEDEXPENSE system messages like "changed the description to X" were not rendering the formatting correctly.

Root Cause: The modifiedExpenseMessage is rendered by ReportActionItemMessageWithExplain, which uses the RenderHTML component. This component can properly render HTML tags, but we were converting the HTML before passing it in:

Previously: Parser.htmlToMarkdown() converted HTML to markdown syntax, showing literal markers (~text~)
Intermediate attempt: Parser.htmlToText() stripped all HTML, showing plain text

Solution: Pass the HTML through unchanged in ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts. The RenderHTML component will properly render formatting tags like <del>, ,  as visual formatting.

Fixed Issues

$ https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/issues/595061
PROPOSAL: N/A

Tests

Ask Concierge AI to set an expense description with strikethrough: "Set description to ~~Test~~"
Verify the MODIFIEDEXPENSE system message shows "changed the description to Test" with actual strikethrough formatting (not literal tildes or plain text)
Test with bold: "Set description to Bold Test" - verify bold renders
Test with italic: "Set description to Italic Test" - verify italic renders
Test with combinations: "Set description to ~~Strike~~ Bold Italic" - verify all formatting renders

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

N/A - This change only affects visual rendering of existing data, no network requests involved

QA Steps

Same as Tests

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Change ModifiedExpenseMessage to use Parser.htmlToText() instead of Parser.htmlToMarkdown() when displaying oldComment/newComment values. Problem: When descriptions contained HTML formatting like <del>Test</del>, the code converted it to ExpensiMark markdown (~Test~) but then displayed that markdown literally as text instead of rendering it. Users saw: "changed the description to \"~Test~\"" with literal tildes. Solution: Use Parser.htmlToText() which strips HTML tags to plain text. Now displays: "changed the description to \"Test\"" cleanly without formatting markers. This matches how other fields (merchant, category) are displayed in MODIFIEDEXPENSE messages - as plain text values in quotes. Note: The actual description value is still stored with HTML formatting in the backend and renders correctly when viewing the transaction. This only affects the system message display. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

The ReportActionItemMessageWithExplain component uses RenderHTML to render the modifiedExpenseMessage, which means it can properly display HTML tags. Previously we were stripping HTML to plain text with Parser.htmlToText(), which removed all formatting. Before that, we were converting to markdown with Parser.htmlToMarkdown(), which showed literal markdown markers. The correct approach is to pass the HTML through unchanged, allowing RenderHTML to render formatting tags like <del>, , properly. Now messages like "changed the description to \"<del>Strikethrough</del>\"" will render with actual strikethrough formatting instead of showing as plain text or literal markers. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

melvin-bot · 2026-02-10T22:43:50Z

@MariaHCD 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]

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src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Fixed issue where passing raw HTML through getForReportAction() was breaking plain-text consumers that now received literal HTML tags instead of readable text. Updated the following plain-text consumers to strip HTML using Parser.htmlToText(): - BrowserNotifications: For notification bodies - ReportNameUtils: For report preview text - ReportUtils: For formatReportLastMessageText - OptionsListUtils: For options list display - ContextMenuActions: For clipboard copy The ReportActionItem component (which uses RenderHTML) continues to receive HTML for proper formatting display. Fixes review feedback from #82057 Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

codecov · 2026-02-11T00:04:54Z

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/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts	`81.55% <100.00%> (ø)`
src/libs/ReportNameUtils.ts	`84.09% <100.00%> (+0.04%)`	⬆️
...fication/LocalNotification/BrowserNotifications.ts	`0.00% <0.00%> (ø)`
src/libs/OptionsListUtils/index.ts	`82.02% <0.00%> (-0.07%)`	⬇️
src/libs/ReportUtils.ts	`77.20% <0.00%> (+0.07%)`	⬆️
...es/inbox/report/ContextMenu/ContextMenuActions.tsx	`41.15% <0.00%> (-0.07%)`	⬇️
... and 100 files with indirect coverage changes

deetergp · 2026-02-11T00:21:50Z

The changes are simple and defensive, just adding Parser.htmlToText() calls. The decrease in coverage is acceptable, IMO.

deetergp · 2026-02-11T01:57:03Z

This PR is held on Expensify/Auth#19674

heyjennahay

Bug fix. Product review not required

…ifiedExpense

deetergp · 2026-03-05T20:47:03Z

Merged main to fix a conflict. This is ready for review @MariaHCD

situchan · 2026-03-05T20:48:56Z

If this requires C+ review, I can help

MariaHCD · 2026-03-06T11:29:35Z

Assigning @situchan for C+ review.

situchan · 2026-03-06T12:41:02Z

src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

 // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
 import {formatList, translateLocal} from './Localize';
 import Log from './Log';
-import Parser from './Parser';


This is still used here:

App/src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Line 256 in bbb6cbd

return translate('iou.rulesModifiedFields.common', 'description', Parser.htmlToMarkdown(updatedValue), isFirst);

situchan · 2026-03-06T17:48:52Z

Reviewer Checklist

I have verified the author checklist is complete (all boxes are checked off).
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- I verified any copy / text shown in the product is localized by adding it to src/languages/* files and using the translation method
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- I verified any copy / text that was added to the app is grammatically correct in English. It adheres to proper capitalization guidelines (note: only the first word of header/labels should be capitalized), and is either coming verbatim from figma or has been approved by marketing (in order to get marketing approval, ask the Bug Zero team member to add the Waiting for copy label to the issue)
- I verified proper file naming conventions were followed for any new files or renamed files. All non-platform specific files are named after what they export and are not named "index.js". All platform-specific files are named for the platform the code supports as outlined in the README.
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If the PR modifies code that runs when editing or sending messages, I tested and verified there is no unexpected behavior for all supported markdown - URLs, single line code, code blocks, quotes, headings, bold, strikethrough, and italic.
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

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web2.mov

web3.mov

deetergp · 2026-03-06T19:44:34Z

@situchan Updated to add back Parser

situchan · 2026-03-06T19:46:29Z

Please fix conflict

…StrikethroughDisplayModifiedExpense

deetergp · 2026-03-06T20:08:20Z

Merge conflict resolved!

situchan · 2026-03-09T04:49:32Z

I think we should also strip markdown here:

App/src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Lines 255 to 256 in e1b02aa

    
           if (key === 'comment') { 
        
               return translate('iou.rulesModifiedFields.common', 'description', Parser.htmlToMarkdown(updatedValue), isFirst);

After strip:

src/pages/inbox/report/ContextMenu/ContextMenuActions.tsx

situchan · 2026-03-12T19:43:09Z

@deetergp please check above comments

…ifiedExpense

deetergp · 2026-03-12T23:05:48Z

Sorry @situchan, was OOO the first part of the week. I have updated to allow for copying markdown from the context menu.

melvin-bot · 2026-03-13T02:41:46Z

@srikarparsi 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]

melvin-bot · 2026-03-13T02:41:48Z

🎯 @situchan, thanks for reviewing and testing this PR! 🎉

An E/App issue has been created to issue payment here: #85165.

…ifiedExpense

situchan · 2026-03-18T13:18:14Z

Maria is OOO. @deetergp I think we can merge

github-actions · 2026-03-18T17:51:27Z

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

github-actions · 2026-03-18T17:58:20Z

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #82057.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-android-Adhoc-8386d22-9a6f3c4-86af1c66ceede0ed548d7bfb643f15e22626372b/index.html	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-8386d22-9a6f3c4-c78cf070e8f943fd0679badebcc3f4c0f394436b/index.html

Web 🕸️
https://82057.pr-testing.expensify.com

👀 View the workflow run that generated this build 👀

OSBotify · 2026-03-19T20:23:27Z

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/deetergp in version: 9.3.41-0 🚀

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

Bundle Size Analysis (Sentry):

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iOS

jponikarchuk · 2026-03-20T07:16:51Z

This PR failing because of the issue #85904
This issue is reproducible in: All platforms

OSBotify · 2026-03-23T09:25:00Z

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/cristipaval in version: 9.3.41-4 🚀

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

deetergp and others added 2 commits February 10, 2026 14:34

deetergp requested review from a team as code owners February 10, 2026 22:43

melvin-bot bot assigned deetergp Feb 10, 2026

melvin-bot bot requested review from MariaHCD and heyjennahay and removed request for a team February 10, 2026 22:43

Remove Parser since it's unused

48f2c5d

chatgpt-codex-connector bot reviewed Feb 10, 2026

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src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts Show resolved Hide resolved

deetergp changed the title ~~Fix ExpensiMark formatting display in MODIFIEDEXPENSE messages~~ [HOLD Auth #19674] Fix ExpensiMark formatting display in MODIFIEDEXPENSE messages Feb 11, 2026

heyjennahay reviewed Feb 20, 2026

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Merge branch 'main' into claude-fixExpensiMarkStrikethroughDisplayMod…

fa18af0

…ifiedExpense

MariaHCD changed the title ~~[HOLD Auth #19674] Fix ExpensiMark formatting display in MODIFIEDEXPENSE messages~~ Fix ExpensiMark formatting display in MODIFIEDEXPENSE messages Mar 6, 2026

MariaHCD requested a review from situchan March 6, 2026 11:29

situchan reviewed Mar 6, 2026

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Add back Parser

9e663fd

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into claude-fixExpensiMark…

e1b02aa

…StrikethroughDisplayModifiedExpense

situchan reviewed Mar 9, 2026

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src/pages/inbox/report/ContextMenu/ContextMenuActions.tsx Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

deetergp added 2 commits March 12, 2026 15:55

Merge branch 'main' into claude-fixExpensiMarkStrikethroughDisplayMod…

9af5a8f

…ifiedExpense

Use htmlToMarkdown when copying

a11dfb5

situchan approved these changes Mar 13, 2026

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melvin-bot bot requested a review from srikarparsi March 13, 2026 02:41

melvin-bot bot mentioned this pull request Mar 13, 2026

Payment issue for E/App PR#82057 #85165

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Merge branch 'main' into claude-fixExpensiMarkStrikethroughDisplayMod…

1f30802

…ifiedExpense

srikarparsi approved these changes Mar 18, 2026

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deetergp merged commit 8386d22 into main Mar 18, 2026
35 checks passed

deetergp deleted the claude-fixExpensiMarkStrikethroughDisplayModifiedExpense branch March 18, 2026 17:42

OSBotify mentioned this pull request Mar 19, 2026

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-03-19 #85862

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jponikarchuk mentioned this pull request Mar 20, 2026

[$250] Concierge AI - System message not shows text with actual formatting #85904

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