[$250] Expense - Expense RHP composer does not not auto focus when opened from report RHP

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.4-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #77657
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdsdjnoisjsoidjois@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.1 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Create two expenses.
4. Open the expense report.
5. Open any expense.

Expected Result:

Expense RHP composer will auto focus.

Actual Result:

Expense RHP composer does not auto focus when opened from report RHP.

This issue does not happen when expense RHP is opened from central pane report.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7051671_1768636732267.4.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022014478928592061964
• Upwork Job ID: 2014478928592061964
• Last Price Increase: 2026-01-29

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @chuckdries

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @stephanieelliott (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.

[annaweber830]

Proposal

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

When opening an expense in the Expense RHP from the report RHP, the composer does not auto-focus (even though it should). This does not happen when opening the same Expense RHP from the central pane report.

What is the root cause of that problem?

Auto-focus is explicitly blocked in the stacked-RHP case. In ComposerWithSuggestions, auto-focus on SCREENS.RIGHT_MODAL.SEARCH_REPORT is disabled whenever another (super wide) RHP is displayed underneath (to avoid animation/layout jank). The “report RHP → expense RHP” flow creates exactly that stacked scenario, so the composer never focuses.

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

• Replace the “disable autofocus entirely” behavior with “delay autofocus until after the transition completes” when SEARCH_REPORT is stacked above another RHP.
• Keep the existing focus logic and conditions the same otherwise, so we preserve current behavior outside this edge case.
  

  App/src/pages/home/report/ReportActionCompose/ComposerWithSuggestions/ComposerWithSuggestions.tsx

  Line 263 in eafbcff

  const shouldDisableAutoFocus = superWideRHPRouteKeys.length > 0 && route.name === SCREENS.RIGHT_MODAL.SEARCH_REPORT;

  
  const shouldDelayAutoFocus = superWideRHPRouteKeys.length > 0 && route.name === SCREENS.RIGHT_MODAL.SEARCH_REPORT;
  

  App/src/pages/home/report/ReportActionCompose/ComposerWithSuggestions/ComposerWithSuggestions.tsx

  Lines 276 to 278 in eafbcff

  	const shouldAutoFocus =
  	(shouldFocusInputOnScreenFocus || !!draftComment) && shouldShowComposeInput && areAllModalsHidden() && isFocused && !didHideComposerInput && !shouldDisableAutoFocus;

const shouldAutoFocus =
        (shouldFocusInputOnScreenFocus || !!draftComment) && shouldShowComposeInput && areAllModalsHidden() && isFocused && !didHideComposerInput;

App/src/pages/home/report/ReportActionCompose/ComposerWithSuggestions/ComposerWithSuggestions.tsx

Lines 602 to 604 in eafbcff

	const focus = useCallback((shouldDelay = false) => {
	focusComposerWithDelay(textInputRef.current)(shouldDelay);
	}, []);

const focus = useCallback((shouldDelay = false) => {
        // If we're stacked above another RHP, wait for the transition to complete before focusing.
        const delay = shouldDelayAutoFocus ? CONST.ANIMATED_TRANSITION : CONST.COMPOSER_FOCUS_DELAY;
        focusComposerWithDelay(textInputRef.current, delay)(shouldDelay);
    }, [shouldDelayAutoFocus]);

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022014478928592061964

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

@brunovjk Eep! 4 days overdue now. Issues have feelings too...