[Due for payment 2026-03-13] [$250] Web - Expense - Chat bubble is no longer shown once user changes report columns

[jponikarchuk]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: 9.3.28-1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: N/A - new feature, doesn't exist in prod
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #82904
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): isodjnosidjiojiojiso@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.2 / 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 expense report.
5. Open any expense.
6. Send a comment.
7. Close the report.
8. Click Columns.
9. Apply any column and click Save.
10. Click Columns.
11. Click Reset columns > Save.

Expected Result:

In Step 9 and 11, after applying columns or resetting columns, expense row will show chat bubble.

Actual Result:

In Step 9 and 11, after applying columns or resetting columns, expense row no longer shows chat bubble.
There is no way to get chat bubble back despite resetting the columns once user changes report columns.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

1.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @trjExpensify

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022028700341283115028
• Upwork Job ID: 2028700341283115028
• Last Price Increase: 2026-03-03

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #82904

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @laurenreidexpensify (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.

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[OSBotify]

🔍 Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #82904 - "Feat/82252 custom report layout columns" by @mukhrr (High confidence)
Related Issues: N/A

Recommendation: REVERT

The PR introduced a new custom columns feature for expense reports but inadvertently excluded the COMMENTS column from the list of customizable columns. When users apply or reset columns, the COMMENTS column (chat bubble) is filtered out and never re-added, making it impossible to see chat comments on expenses.

Since this is a new feature that does not exist in production, reverting the PR will not affect production users and will prevent this broken functionality from shipping.

Labels: This is a frontend bug. The DeployBlockerCash label should remain (App deploy is blocked). The DeployBlocker label should be removed if present (backend is not affected).

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

The bug was immediately attributed to PR #82904 by the melvin-bot, as the PR author was auto-assigned to the issue. The reproduction steps directly involve the new columns feature introduced in this PR.

Verification

I verified that PR #82904 modifies the exact files related to this bug:

• src/CONST/index.ts - Added REPORT_DETAILS_CUSTOM_COLUMNS constant
• src/libs/SearchUIUtils.ts - Modified getColumnsToShow() function to filter columns based on allowed columns
• src/components/MoneyRequestReportView/MoneyRequestReportTransactionList.tsx - Uses the column filtering logic

Root Cause

The PR introduced CONST.SEARCH.REPORT_DETAILS_CUSTOM_COLUMNS in src/CONST/index.ts (lines 7201-7217 in the PR diff):

get REPORT_DETAILS_CUSTOM_COLUMNS() {
    return {
        RECEIPT: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.RECEIPT,
        DATE: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.DATE,
        MERCHANT: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.MERCHANT,
        DESCRIPTION: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.DESCRIPTION,
        CARD: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.CARD,
        CATEGORY: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.CATEGORY,
        TAG: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.TAG,
        EXCHANGE_RATE: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.EXCHANGE_RATE,
        ORIGINAL_AMOUNT: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.ORIGINAL_AMOUNT,
        REIMBURSABLE: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.REIMBURSABLE,
        BILLABLE: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.BILLABLE,
        TAX_RATE: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.TAX_RATE,
        TAX_AMOUNT: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.TAX_AMOUNT,
        AMOUNT: this.TABLE_COLUMNS.TOTAL_AMOUNT,
    };
}

The COMMENTS column is missing from this list.

In src/libs/SearchUIUtils.ts, the modified getColumnsToShow() function filters visible columns based on allowed columns:

const allowedColumns: string[] = isExpenseReportView 
    ? Object.values(CONST.SEARCH.REPORT_DETAILS_CUSTOM_COLUMNS) 
    : Object.values(CONST.SEARCH.TYPE_CUSTOM_COLUMNS.EXPENSE);
const filteredVisibleColumns = visibleColumns.filter((column) => allowedColumns.includes(column));

Since COMMENTS is not in REPORT_DETAILS_CUSTOM_COLUMNS, it gets filtered out when users customize columns. The old logic had COMMENTS hardcoded as always visible in expense report view (line 4194 before the PR):

[CONST.SEARCH.TABLE_COLUMNS.COMMENTS]: true,

After the PR, when custom columns are applied, this default is bypassed and COMMENTS is filtered out because it is not in the allowed columns list.