Standardize product behavior using "Global Create"

[JmillsExpensify]

While it's possible to create expenses/receipts pretty much anywhere in the app, the post-creation experience can differ quite a bit. Consider this case:

• User is on Reports → To-do → Submit
• The search results return nothing
• The empty state prompts them to create an expense — so they do
• But in many instances, the expense isn't part of the search result, so it looks like nothing happened

To resolve this issue, let's standardize the post-creation experience for Global Create and the mobile receipt FAB as follows:

• If the user is on Inbox and creates an expense, navigate them post-creation to their workspace chat
• If the user is any other page in the app, navigate them post-creation to Reports → Expenses, highlighting the newly created expense in the table

Any question, let me know!

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @dmkt9

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Current assignee @JmillsExpensify is eligible for the Bug assigner, not assigning anyone new.

[melvin-bot]

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[muhammadawais20]

@JmillsExpensify , is this video showing this bug?

[dmkt9]

Proposal

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

Standardize product behavior using "Global Create"

What is the root cause of that problem?

Refactor

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

1. We need to pass the isFromGlobalCreate parameter to the functions requestMoney, submitPerDiemExpense, … and also to dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab to identify that the transaction was created from “Global Create.”
   

   App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

   Line 990 in c43ba15

   function dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab(reportID?: string) {

2. In dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab, we will check: if currently in Inbox, then open the workspace chat; otherwise, navigate to Reports → Expenses.
   

   App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

   Lines 1009 to 1013 in c43ba15

   	if (isSearchTopmostFullScreenRoute() || !reportID) {
   	Navigation.dismissModal();
   	return;
   	}
   	Navigation.dismissModalWithReport({reportID});

3. When navigating to Reports → Expenses, we can either add a parameter for the transactionID that needs to be highlighted, or create a key in onyxData to identify which transactionID should be highlighted, and then use the shouldAnimateInHighlight property.
   

   App/src/components/Search/index.tsx

   Line 887 in c43ba15

   const shouldAnimateInHighlight = isBaseKeyMatch || isAnyTransactionMatch;

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

N/A

[github-actions]

⚠️ @dmkt9 Thanks for your proposal. Please update it to follow the proposal template, as proposals are only reviewed if they follow that format (note the mandatory sections).

[ShridharGoel]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2025-12-21 12:53:35 UTC.

Proposal

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

We want a consistent post-creation experience: if the user was on Inbox, take them to their workspace chat; otherwise take them to Reports → Expenses and highlight the new expense.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The post-creation helper short-circuits when the Search navigator is on top, so creation flows launched from search simply dismiss the modal and stay on the empty results view instead of navigating to the new expense.

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 990 to 1013 in 9410d79

	function dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab(reportID?: string) {
	const rootState = navigationRef.getRootState();
	if (isReportOpenInRHP(rootState)) {
	const rhpKey = rootState.routes.at(-1)?.state?.key;
	if (rhpKey) {
	const hasMultipleTransactions = Object.values(allTransactions).filter((transaction) => transaction?.reportID === reportID).length > 0;
	// When a report with one expense is opened in the wide RHP and the user adds another expense, RHP should be dismissed and ROUTES.SEARCH_MONEY_REQUEST_REPORT should be displayed.
	if (hasMultipleTransactions && reportID) {
	Navigation.dismissModal();
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
	InteractionManager.runAfterInteractions(() => {
	Navigation.navigate(ROUTES.SEARCH_MONEY_REQUEST_REPORT.getRoute({reportID}));
	});
	return;
	}
	Navigation.pop(rhpKey);
	return;
	}
	}
	if (isSearchTopmostFullScreenRoute() || !reportID) {
	Navigation.dismissModal();
	return;
	}
	Navigation.dismissModalWithReport({reportID});

Notice that the above code skips navigation whenever isSearchTopmostFullScreenRoute() is true.

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

Add origin-aware navigation for money request creation:

• Track whether the flow started from the Inbox tab; otherwise treat it as a global-create flow that should land in Search → Expenses.
• After creation, route based on that origin: Inbox returns to the chat; other tabs dismiss the modal, go to the Expenses search view, and pass a highlight payload for the new transaction so the row animates.
• Introduce the SEARCH_TRANSACTION_HIGHLIGHT Onyx value to carry transaction IDs and search type so the Expenses page can scroll and animate the new expense row after navigation.
• In the Expenses page, read SEARCH_TRANSACTION_HIGHLIGHT, build a temporary set of IDs to highlight, pass it to the search highlight hook, and then clear the value so the row animates once.

Updated navigation helper:

function navigateAfterExpenseCreation({
    activeReportID,
    transactionID,
    isRetry,
    isFromGlobalCreate,
}: {
    activeReportID?: string;
    transactionID?: string;
    isRetry?: boolean;
    isFromGlobalCreate?: boolean;
}) {
    if (isRetry) {
        return;
    }

    const hasOriginFlag = moneyRequestOriginIsInboxTab !== undefined;
    const shouldHandleWithSearch = hasOriginFlag || isFromGlobalCreate;
    const shouldReturnToInboxTab = hasOriginFlag ? moneyRequestOriginIsInboxTab : false;

    if (!shouldHandleWithSearch) {
        moneyRequestOriginIsInboxTab = undefined;
        dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab(activeReportID);
        return;
    }

    moneyRequestOriginIsInboxTab = undefined;

    if (shouldReturnToInboxTab) {
        dismissModalAndOpenReportInInboxTab(activeReportID);
        return;
    }

    if (transactionID) {
        Onyx.set(ONYXKEYS.SEARCH_TRANSACTION_HIGHLIGHT, {transactionIDs: [transactionID], type: CONST.SEARCH.DATA_TYPES.EXPENSE});
    }

    const expensesQuery = buildCannedSearchQuery({type: CONST.SEARCH.DATA_TYPES.EXPENSE});
    Navigation.dismissModal({
        callback: () => Navigation.navigate(ROUTES.SEARCH_ROOT.getRoute({query: expensesQuery})),
    });
}

[huult]

@ShridharGoel your proposal looks promising. Could you share a test branch with me?