[$250] Remove `Private notes` from the FE

[JmillsExpensify]

We previously used New Expensify as a quasi-CRM, but that's no longer a thing and it's just creating unnecessary confusion and complication for no gain. As a first step, let's remove Private notes from the front-end, get some experience with how that goes and then fully remove it from the BE in a separate issue.

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @suneox

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022044313963439731560
• Upwork Job ID: 2044313963439731560
• Last Price Increase: 2026-04-15

[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/~022044313963439731560

[Ltbltbltbltb]

Proposal

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

The "Private notes" feature still appears in the front-end despite no longer being used, creating confusion for users.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The feature is wired end-to-end: routes in src/ROUTES.ts (lines 1056–1065) expose /r/:reportID/notes and /r/:reportID/notes/:accountID/edit; actions in src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts (lines 4927–5145) fetch, update, and validate private notes; and the Report onyx type (src/types/onyx/Report.ts line 254) still carries the privateNotes field. The UI entry point (the "Private notes" menu item) reads the route and renders based on those live data paths — removing it from only one layer leaves dead code and lingering state.

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

Simplest FE-only removal in three targeted steps:

1. Remove the routes (src/ROUTES.ts lines 1056–1065):

// Delete both PRIVATE_NOTES_LIST and PRIVATE_NOTES_EDIT entries entirely
// (r/:reportID/notes and r/:reportID/notes/:accountID/edit)

2. Remove action functions (src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts):
Remove updatePrivateNotes (line 4927), getReportPrivateNote (line 4979), hasErrorInPrivateNotes (line 5130), and savePrivateNotesDraft (line 5145). These are FE-only concerns — no BE calls needed at this stage.

3. Remove i18n strings (src/languages/en.ts lines 2343–2345, and corresponding entries in src/languages/fr.ts):

// Remove the entire `privateNotes` key block:
// title: 'Private notes',
// personalNoteMessage: '...',
// sharedNoteMessage: '...',

4. Remove the Onyx type field (src/types/onyx/Report.ts line 254 and src/types/onyx/ReportMetadata.ts line 40):

// Delete `privateNotes` from Report type
// Delete `isLoadingPrivateNotes` from ReportMetadata type

The menu item rendering the "Private notes" option navigates to the now-deleted route — once the route is gone, TypeScript will surface every remaining reference, making the cleanup exhaustive and compiler-verified. No new utilities needed; existing navigation guards will handle unknown routes gracefully.

Contributor Details

Field	Value
Contributor email	lucastrba@gmail.com
Upwork Profile	https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~01d016059c6701ebaa

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

Private notes was originally built as a quasi-CRM feature but is no longer needed. The feature currently surfaces in two UI entry points and has dedicated pages, navigation routes, API actions, and form state — all of which need to be removed from the frontend.

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

Remove all frontend code related to Private Notes. The changes span these areas:

1. Remove UI entry points (the menu items users see):

• ReportDetailsPage.tsx — remove the PRIVATE_NOTES menu item push and the getReportPrivateNote call at line ~326
• ProfilePage.tsx — remove the Private notes MenuItem

2. Delete dedicated Private Notes pages:

• src/pages/PrivateNotes/PrivateNotesListPage.tsx
• src/pages/PrivateNotes/PrivateNotesEditPage.tsx
• src/pages/inbox/report/withReportAndPrivateNotesOrNotFound.tsx (HOC wrapper)

3. Remove navigation plumbing:

• ROUTES.ts — delete PRIVATE_NOTES_LIST and PRIVATE_NOTES_EDIT routes
• SCREENS.ts — remove PRIVATE_NOTES screen constants
• ModalStackNavigators/index.tsx — delete PrivateNotesModalStackNavigator
• RightModalNavigator.tsx — remove PRIVATE_NOTES screen registration
• linkingConfig/config.ts — remove deep linking config
• Navigation/types.ts — remove PrivateNotesNavigatorParamList

4. Remove actions and helpers:

• ReportUtils.ts — remove navigateToPrivateNotes, goBackFromPrivateNotes, goBackToDetailsPage helpers
• actions/Report/index.ts — remove updatePrivateNotes, getReportPrivateNote, hasErrorInPrivateNotes, clearPrivateNotesError, savePrivateNotesDraft

5. Clean up types, constants, keys, and translations:

• CONST/index.ts — remove REPORT_DETAILS_MENU_ITEM.PRIVATE_NOTES
• ONYXKEYS.ts — remove PRIVATE_NOTES_DRAFT, PRIVATE_NOTES_FORM, PRIVATE_NOTES_FORM_DRAFT
• types/onyx/ReportMetadata.ts — remove isLoadingPrivateNotes
• types/form/PrivateNotesForm.ts — delete file
• libs/API/parameters/UpdateReportPrivateNoteParams.ts — delete file
• languages/en.ts (and 9 other language files) — remove the privateNotes translation block
• ReportNavigateAwayHandler.tsx — remove SCREENS.PRIVATE_NOTES from the detail screens list

6. Remove attachment carousel support for private notes:

• components/Attachments/AttachmentCarousel/extractAttachments.ts — remove the ATTACHMENT_TYPE.NOTE branch
• components/Attachments/AttachmentCarousel/index.tsx — remove private notes attachment handling

Note: The privateNotes field on Report.ts and the BE commands (UPDATE_REPORT_PRIVATE_NOTE, GET_REPORT_PRIVATE_NOTE) should be left intact per the issue — BE removal is planned for a separate issue.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

An alternative would be to gate the feature behind a feature flag rather than removing the code entirely, preserving the option to re-enable it. However, since the issue explicitly states the feature is no longer needed and a full BE removal will follow, deleting the code outright is cleaner and avoids dead code.

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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.

[ProjectNOVACo]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.
We need to remove "Private notes" from the front-end as it's no longer used and creating confusion.

What is the root cause of that problem?
The feature still has UI entry points, navigation routes, and language keys which keep it visible in the app. Specifically:

• src/languages/pt-BR.ts (lines 2136–2140): Contains translation strings for "Private notes"
• src/pages/ReportDetailsPage.tsx: The menu item is defined around line 380

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

1. Remove the language translations for private notes from src/languages/pt-BR.ts:

// Before
privateNotes: {
    title: 'Notas privadas',
    personalNoteMessage: 'Mantenha anotações sobre este chat aqui. Você é a única pessoa que pode adicionar, editar ou ver essas anotações.',
    sharedNoteMessage: 'Mantenha anotações sobre este chat aqui. Funcionários da Expensify e outros membros no domínio team.expensify.com podem ver essas anotações.',
    composerLabel: 'Notas',
    myNote: 'Minha nota',
}

// After
// Remove the entire privateNotes object

2. In src/pages/ReportDetailsPage.tsx, remove or comment out the menu item for "Private notes" around line 380:

const menuItems: ReportDetailsPageMenuItem[] = useMemo(() => {
    const items: ReportDetailsPageMenuItem[] = [];

    // Remove or comment out this section:
    // if (isSelfDM) {
    //     return [];
    // }

    // ...

}, [showConfirmModal, translate, caseID, navigateToTargetUrl, deleteTransaction]);

What alternative solutions did you explore?
None. The solution is straightforward: remove the feature from the front-end completely as instructed.

[ProjectNOVACo]

📋 Contributor details

• Email: george@projectnova.systems
• Upwork Profile Link: https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~015a34381f7fbbf9d5

[Yatin-Bhatti]

Proposal

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

We need to remove "Private notes" from the front-end as it's no longer used and creating confusion.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The "Private Notes" feature remains technically active because the application’s Feature Map and State Schema haven't been updated to reflect its deprecation.
Currently, the frontend is architecturally "wired" to expect and handle private notes at every level: from the UI Layer (menu items in ReportDetailsPage and ProfilePage), through the Navigation Layer (defined routes and stack navigators), to the Data Layer (Onyx keys like ONYXKEYS.PRIVATE_NOTES_DRAFT and internal ReportAction logic). Because these hooks, HOCs, and types remain in the production bundle, they continue to consume memory and create technical debt, even though the feature is no longer part of the product's CRM strategy.

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

I propose a Top-Down Extraction to ensure no "ghost logic" remains in the frontend bundle:

1. UI Entry Point De-registration: I will remove the "Private notes" MenuItem from ReportDetailsPage.tsx and ProfilePage.tsx. This immediately makes the feature invisible to the user.

2.Navigation Tree Pruning: I will delete the PRIVATE_NOTES_LIST and PRIVATE_NOTES_EDIT routes from src/ROUTES.ts and remove the PrivateNotesModalStackNavigator from the navigation stack. This ensures the code is no longer "reachable" via deep links or internal navigation.

3. Component & HOC Liquidation: I will delete the entire src/pages/PrivateNotes/ directory and remove the withReportAndPrivateNotesOrNotFound High-Order Component. This removes the bulk of the feature's rendering logic.

4. Action & Utility Scrubbing: I will remove all note-specific functions from src/libs/actions/Report.ts (e.g., updatePrivateNotes, getReportPrivateNote). I will also audit src/libs/ReportUtils.ts to remove navigation helpers specifically created for notes.

5. State & Type Cleanup:
   Remove PRIVATE_NOTES keys from ONYXKEYS.ts.
   Clean up the Report and ReportMetadata types in src/types/onyx/ to remove the privateNotes and isLoadingPrivateNotes fields.

6. Sub-System Decoupling: I will specifically remove the ATTACHMENT_TYPE.NOTE logic from the AttachmentCarousel and extractAttachments.ts utilities. This ensures that the global search and attachment previews no longer attempt to parse note-type data.

7. Localization Purge: Delete the privateNotes block from all 10+ translation files (en.ts, es.ts, etc.) to reduce the bundle size.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

I considered simply "hiding" the menu item using a feature flag or a conditional check. However, since the goal is to fully remove the feature from the frontend to reduce "confusion and complication," a simple UI hide would leave significant "Dead Code" in the bundle. The proposed Surgical Extraction is superior because it leverages the TypeScript compiler to find and resolve all orphaned references, resulting in a cleaner, lighter, and more maintainable frontend architecture.