[Due for payment 2026-05-20] [$250] Allow configuring Itemized Receipt requirement via Spreadsheet upload as well as manual

[twisterdotcom]

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Version Number: v9.3.42-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack:
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers):
Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856
Expensify/Expensify Issue URL: #84985
Issue reported by:
Slack conversation (hyperlinked to channel name): #expensify-open-source

Action Performed:

1. Navigate to Workspace settings > categories, where category rules can be configured
2. Set Receipts to Not required for a single category
3. Confirm that Itemized Receipts is automatically set to Not required for manually configured categories
4. Prepare a spreadsheet of categories and set one category to "not_required" for Receipts Required
5. Upload the spreadsheet into the workspace
6. Review the imported category settings

Description:

When configuring categories manually, setting Receipts to Not required correctly forces Itemized Receipts (maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt) to Not required.

However, this logic is not applied when categories are created or updated via spreadsheet upload. This leads to inconsistent configurations where Receipts is Not required, but Itemized Receipts is not aligned and still set as "default"

Additionally, the spreadsheet import flow does not currently support explicitly setting the maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt field, which prevents admins from defining this behavior directly in the upload.

The spreadsheet import should:

1. Apply the same normalization logic as the manual UI flow
2. Support a maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt column with required / not_required values

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a categories spreadsheet for import
2. Set categories with Receipts = Not required
3. Upload the spreadsheet
4. Open workspace category settings
5. Check the Itemized Receipts values

Expected Result:

• Spreadsheet-imported categories follow the same logic as manual configuration
• If Receipts = Not required, then Itemized Receipts = Not required
• The spreadsheet supports a maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt field with required / not_required values
• Imported data is consistent and predictable

Actual Result:

• Spreadsheet-imported categories do not apply the normalization logic
• Itemized Receipts may remain incorrectly configured
• No support exists for defining maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt in the spreadsheet

Platforms:

Select the officially supported platforms where the issue was reproduced:

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

Screenshots/Videos

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner:

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL:
• Upwork Job ID:
• Last Price Increase:

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @mallenexpensify

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022036096745367857628
• Upwork Job ID: 2036096745367857628
• Last Price Increase: 2026-04-06

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

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

When configuring categories manually, setting Receipts to Not required correctly forces Itemized Receipts (maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt) to Not required as well. However, when categories are imported via spreadsheet upload, this normalization logic is not applied. Additionally, the spreadsheet import does not support setting maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt (or maxAmountNoReceipt) at all — only name, enabled, and GL Code are supported columns.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The root cause is in two parts:

1. The spreadsheet import only supports 3 fields. In ImportedCategoriesPage.tsx (lines 44-57), the column roles are limited to Name, Enabled, and GL Code. The importCategories callback (lines 103-112) constructs category objects with only these 3 fields. Then importPolicyCategories in Category.ts (lines 930-934) serializes only name, enabled, and GL Code to send to the API. There is no support for maxAmountNoReceipt or maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt columns.

2. The normalization logic only exists in the UI layer. In CategoryRequireReceiptsOverPage.tsx (lines 96-105), when a user selects "Not required" (CONST.DISABLED_MAX_EXPENSE_VALUE = 10000000000), the UI checks if maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt is already disabled. If not, it calls setPolicyCategoryReceiptsAndItemizedReceiptRequired to atomically set both maxAmountNoReceipt and maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt to the disabled value. Since the spreadsheet import bypasses this UI flow entirely, no normalization occurs.

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

1. Add "Receipts Required" column support to the spreadsheet import — In ImportedCategoriesPage.tsx, add a new column role (e.g., RECEIPTS_REQUIRED) to getColumnRoles() for Control policies. Accept values like required / not_required (or a numeric threshold).

2. Add "Itemized Receipts Required" column support — Similarly, add a ITEMIZED_RECEIPTS_REQUIRED column role.

3. Apply normalization in the import callback — In the importCategories callback in ImportedCategoriesPage.tsx, after reading the spreadsheet values, apply the same normalization logic: if Receipts = not_required (i.e., CONST.DISABLED_MAX_EXPENSE_VALUE), force Itemized Receipts to not_required as well. The symmetric check should also apply (if Itemized Receipts = always_required / 0, force Receipts to always_required / 0).

4. Update importPolicyCategories and the API parameters — In Category.ts, include maxAmountNoReceipt and maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt in the serialized category data sent to the IMPORT_CATEGORIES_SPREADSHEET API command. Update ImportCategoriesSpreadsheetParams accordingly.

5. Preserve existing values for unmapped columns — When a category already exists and the spreadsheet doesn't include a receipts column, the existing maxAmountNoReceipt / maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt values should be preserved (similar to how GL Code is currently preserved for existing categories).

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

An alternative would be to handle the normalization entirely on the backend (in the ImportCategoriesSpreadsheet command handler). This would ensure consistency regardless of client behavior, but it wouldn't solve the issue of admins not being able to explicitly set these values via spreadsheet.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis, or explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022036096745367857628

[Amsamms]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2026-04-07 06:49:35 UTC.

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

The spreadsheet import path in ImportedCategoriesPage.tsx (lines 44-57) only exposes three column roles via getColumnRoles(): Name, Enabled, and GL Code. There is no way for an admin to map CSV columns to maxAmountNoReceipt or maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt. Consequently, the importCategories callback (lines 103-112) builds category objects without these fields, and importPolicyCategories in Category.ts (line 930) serializes only {name, enabled, GL Code} to the IMPORT_CATEGORIES_SPREADSHEET API command.

This means two things go wrong at once: (1) admins cannot express receipt-requirement rules in their spreadsheet at all, and (2) the normalization that the manual UI performs — where setting Receipts to "Not required" automatically forces Itemized Receipts to "Not required" as well (see CategoryRequireReceiptsOverPage.tsx, lines 96-105) — is completely bypassed during import.

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

Following the direction outlined by @dangrous on April 1, the fix should split responsibilities between the App frontend and the backend:

Frontend (App) — accept the two new columns. Add two new column role constants (e.g., MAX_AMOUNT_NO_RECEIPT and MAX_AMOUNT_NO_ITEMIZED_RECEIPT) to CSV_IMPORT_COLUMNS in CONST/index.ts. Expose them in getColumnRoles() inside ImportedCategoriesPage.tsx, gated behind isControlPolicy(policy) the same way GL Code is. In the importCategories callback, read these columns and translate human-friendly values ("required", "not_required") into the numeric equivalents. Include both fields in the category objects passed to importPolicyCategories, and update ImportCategoriesSpreadsheetParams so the type reflects the expanded payload.

Backend — handle normalization. Rather than duplicating the normalization logic that currently lives in CategoryRequireReceiptsOverPage.tsx, the backend should enforce consistency when it processes the imported categories. If maxAmountNoReceipt is set to the disabled sentinel value, the backend should automatically coerce maxAmountNoItemizedReceipt to the same value, preventing weird states regardless of which client sends the request.

OD CSV import. The OD category-import endpoint should be updated to accept the same two columns so that admins on OD get parity with the ND spreadsheet flow.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

An earlier version of this proposal placed the normalization logic on the frontend (mirroring what the manual UI does). However, @dangrous clarified that normalization belongs in the backend to prevent weird states universally. The frontend-only approach would leave the backend unprotected against direct API calls or future clients that skip the App UI, so backend normalization is the more robust design.

Contributor details
Your Expensify account email: ahmedsabri85@gmail.com
Upwork Profile Link: https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~01ac6e6fb933cbfbf8

[Amsamms]

Contributor details
Your Expensify account email: ahmedsabri85@gmail.com
Upwork Profile Link: https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~01ac6e6fb933cbfbf8

[melvin-bot]

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