[$250] Automatically create a Markdown link when highlighting text and pasting a link

[blimpich]

Coming from this discussion

Background

It's a common pattern that when a clipboard has a link copied to it and the user paste into a text window the link will be automatically formatted to hyperlink the selected text using markdown syntax (if the text window uses markdown syntax). Expensify currently allows markdown syntax in it's text window for chats, and we have keyboard shortcuts for making italics and bolding, but we do not have the equivalent for markdown links.

Problem

When users are use to markdown and expect the text window to work like other markdown compatible text windows (Slack, Github, etcetera) and it doesn't behave similarly it creates confusion and an appearance that our application is not feature complete.

Solution

Automatically replace text with a Markdown link when highlighting text and pasting a link.

Example:

Screen.Recording.2023-05-22.at.3.51.45.PM.mov

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021969173622623857836
• Upwork Job ID: 1969173622623857836
• Last Price Increase: 2025-09-26

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @muttmuure

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021969173622623857836

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @c3024 (External)

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @muttmuure (NewFeature), see https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/14418#:~:text=BugZero%20process%20steps%20for%20feature%20requests for more details. Please add this Feature request to a GH project, as outlined in the SO. Remember to draft any necessary HelpDot updates by following the instructions here.

[melvin-bot]

⚠️ It looks like this issue is labelled as a New Feature but not tied to any GitHub Project. Keep in mind that all new features should be tied to GitHub Projects in order to properly track external CAP software time ⚠️