[Due for payment 2026-09-10] Export: when only one option is available, open directly into it instead of showing an intermediate menu

[melvin-bot]

Problem

On the Spend page (and other pages with an export flow), selecting the export entry point typically opens a menu of available export options. However, when Export is the only option in the More menu and there is only one export option available, we skip both menus and open that option directly. This can be confusing because the user loses the context that they’re entering an export flow and may not understand what the option they’ve landed on represents.

Proposed solution
When only one option is available, open the flow one level deeper instead of two. In this example, that means opening the Export menu directly and displaying the single available option, rather than navigating straight to that option.

Context

Related, already-shipped work: #94056 (standardized the export filename and renamed the export option).

Reported in Slack.

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @ZhenjaHorbach

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Unable to auto-create job on Upwork. The BZ team member should create it manually for this issue.

[flaviadefaria]

@ZhenjaHorbach, I think Melvin might be able to implement this. What do you think?

[ZhenjaHorbach]

Sounds good!

[ZhenjaHorbach]

@MelvinBot
Can you prepare a proposal?

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

The Search/Spend "More" menu deliberately collapses the Export flow whenever exactly one export option is available. In useSearchBulkActions.ts:2085-2108, when getExportOptions() returns a single item, the code builds the Export entry as a flat button that runs that option's onSelected directly (no subMenuItems) instead of the normal entry that opens the Export submenu:

Root-cause code

const subMenuItems = getExportOptions();
const singleExportSubMenuItem = subMenuItems.length === 1 ? subMenuItems.at(0) : undefined;

const exportButtonOption = singleExportSubMenuItem
    ? {   // collapsed: flat button, no subMenuItems -> runs the single option directly
          icon: expensifyIcons.Export,
          text: singleExportSubMenuItem.text,
          onSelected: () => singleExportSubMenuItem.onSelected?.(),
          ...
      }
    : {   // normal: opens the Export submenu
          icon: expensifyIcons.Export,
          rightIcon: expensifyIcons.ArrowRight,
          text: translate('common.export'),
          subMenuItems,
      };

So when Export is the only "More" option and there's only one export option, the user is taken straight into that option, losing the "you're exporting" context — exactly the confusing two-menus-skipped behavior in the issue. This collapse only exists on the Search/Spend path; the report-header and selected-transactions paths (useExportActions.ts:268, useSelectedTransactionsActions.ts:449-456) already keep subMenuItems, so they behave correctly today.

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

Remove the single-option collapse in useSearchBulkActions.ts so the Export entry always uses the submenu form (the else branch above). Concretely, delete singleExportSubMenuItem and always build exportButtonOption with text: translate('common.export'), rightIcon: expensifyIcons.ArrowRight, and subMenuItems.

With subMenuItems present, PopoverMenu.selectItem navigates one level deeper into the Export submenu (showing the single option with a back button) instead of executing it — which is the desired "open the flow one level deeper instead of two" behavior. No change is needed in the report-header/transaction paths since they never collapsed.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Keeping the collapse but only when it also collapses the top-level "More" menu (i.e. only skip a level when Export truly is the only action) — rejected because the issue explicitly wants the intermediate Export menu shown even in the single-option case, and it adds a special case rather than making the three export paths consistent.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team:
To accept: @MelvinBot implement [this](https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues/98779) to create a draft PR.
To refine: @MelvinBot <your feedback>
To reject: Explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.

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[ZhenjaHorbach]

@MelvinBot
Implement your proposal

[MelvinBot]

🤖 Draft PR created: #99217
Please mark it as "Ready for review" when it is ready for review.

What changed: Removed the single-option collapse in useSearchBulkActions.ts so the Search/Spend "More" menu's Export entry always opens the Export submenu — showing the single available option one level deeper instead of navigating straight into it. The report-header and selected-transactions export paths already behaved this way and are untouched.

Tests: Added a regression test in useSearchBulkActionsExportTest.ts that fails on the old collapsing code and passes with the fix. Ran locally: lint-changed ✅, typecheck-tsgo ✅, react-compiler compliance (no regression) ✅, spell-changed ✅, and the export/bulk-actions Jest suites ✅ (27 + button tests passing).

One note for QA: this only affects the Search/Spend flow. Reproducing the single-option case requires a selection whose export list resolves to exactly one option (e.g. a grouped/full-group selection that offers only "Current view") — with the fix, tapping Export should now show that option inside the Export submenu rather than jumping straight into it.

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