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[No QA] Clarify that "Manually" submission frequency still auto-adds expenses to a report#92121

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Explanation of Change

Clarifies the Manually option of the workspace Submissions frequency in two help articles so it is clear that expenses are still auto‑added to a report — the "Manually" frequency only controls when reports are submitted, not whether expenses are placed on a report.

This was prompted by AgentZero recommending that an admin switch from the Weekly auto‑submission cadence to the Manually option so "expenses stay Unreported." Per the existing docs, the Manually option still auto‑adds expenses to reports, so the recommendation did not match the user's intent. AgentZero's logged reasoning shows it conflated the Workspace Workflows FAQ phrase "if no submission frequency is chosen, expenses remain Unreported" with the Manually option in How‑to‑Set‑Up‑Automatic‑Report‑Submissions. Making the Manually bullet more explicit in both articles should reduce that misinterpretation for both customers and the LLM.

Files updated:

  • docs/articles/new-expensify/reports-and-expenses/How-to-Set-Up-Automatic-Report-Submissions.md
  • docs/articles/new-expensify/workspaces/Workspace-Workflows.md

Fixed Issues

$ https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/issues/635321
PROPOSAL: https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/issues/635321#issuecomment-4580434464

Tests

// TODO: The human co-author must fill out the tests you ran before marking this PR as "ready for review"
// Please describe what tests you performed that validates your changed worked.

  • Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

N/A — documentation-only change.

QA Steps

// TODO: The human co-author must fill out the QA tests you ran before marking this PR as "ready for review".
// Please describe what QA needs to do to validate your changes and what areas do they need to test for regressions.

  • Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

  • I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
  • I wrote clear testing steps that cover the changes made in this PR
    • I added steps for local testing in the Tests section
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    • I verified that any new or modified comments were clear, correct English, and explained "why" the code was doing something instead of only explaining "what" the code was doing.
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Screenshots/Videos

N/A — help-site markdown content change.

…o a report

Co-authored-by: Stephanie Elliott <stephanieelliott@users.noreply.github.com>
@MelvinBot MelvinBot requested a review from a team May 29, 2026 23:10
@github-actions github-actions Bot changed the title Clarify that "Manually" submission frequency still auto-adds expenses to a report [No QA] Clarify that "Manually" submission frequency still auto-adds expenses to a report May 29, 2026
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Per feedback on the linked issue, document that toggling Submissions
off (not the Manually frequency) is what prevents expenses from being
auto-added to a report. Also fix the contradictory "off = submitted
instantly" line in Workspace-Workflows so it matches the FAQ behavior.

Co-authored-by: Stephanie Elliott <stephanieelliott@users.noreply.github.com>
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Added the Submissions toggle OFF → Unreported clarification. Two changes pushed in ae24d85:

  • docs/articles/new-expensify/reports-and-expenses/How-to-Set-Up-Automatic-Report-Submissions.md — added an inline callout under the frequency list explicitly stating that toggling Submissions off is what keeps expenses Unreported (and that "Manually" does not), plus a new FAQ entry "How do I stop expenses from being automatically assigned to reports?" so the answer is discoverable for both customers and AgentZero retrieval.
  • docs/articles/new-expensify/workspaces/Workspace-Workflows.md — the existing bullet here read "If turned off, all reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses are submitted instantly," which contradicted both the FAQ on the same page and the corrected behavior. Updated it to: "If Submissions is turned off, expenses stay in the Unreported state until a member adds them to a report… This is the only configuration that prevents expenses from being auto-added to a report." Flagging this change explicitly in case you'd like the previous wording preserved — happy to revert that one line if it was intentional.

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@stephanieelliott stephanieelliott removed the request for review from a team May 30, 2026 04:01
@stephanieelliott stephanieelliott marked this pull request as ready for review May 30, 2026 04:01
@stephanieelliott stephanieelliott self-requested a review as a code owner May 30, 2026 04:01
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HelpDot Documentation Review

Overall Assessment

This PR clarifies the behavior of the Manually submission frequency across two help articles, making it explicit that expenses are still auto-added to reports even when Manually is selected. The changes are well-motivated (correcting an LLM misinterpretation) and improve precision. A few issues in the new text need attention before merge.

Scores Summary

  • Readability: 7/10 - The clarifications are clear and actionable, but one grammatical error ("turned disabled") and a trailing whitespace reduce polish. The added paragraph in the first file is slightly dense but still scannable.
  • AI Readiness: 8/10 - The changes explicitly disambiguate "Manually" from "Submissions off," which directly addresses the LLM conflation issue described in the PR. Bold emphasis on key terms like auto-added to a report and Unreported improves semantic retrieval. No new headings were needed or added, which is appropriate.
  • Style Compliance: 7/10 - UI element bolding is correctly applied. However, there is a grammar issue in the Workspace-Workflows.md note, and one sentence has a trailing space before the line break.

Key Findings

  • Grammar error (must fix): In Workspace-Workflows.md, the added note reads "If Submissions is turned disabled" -- this should be either "If Submissions is disabled" or "If Submissions is turned off" to match standard phrasing and read correctly.
  • Trailing whitespace: In How-to-Set-Up-Automatic-Report-Submissions.md, the modified Manually bullet ends with a trailing space after the period. Minor, but worth cleaning up.
  • Positive: Disambiguation is well done. The added text in both files clearly distinguishes between the Manually frequency (auto-adds expenses, delays submission) and toggling Submissions off (expenses stay Unreported). This directly serves both human readers and AI retrieval.
  • Positive: Consistent messaging. Both articles now convey the same clarification, reducing the risk of conflicting information across docs.
  • Removed bullet concern: In Workspace-Workflows.md, the old bullet "If turned off, all reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses are submitted instantly" was removed and replaced with a note that says the opposite behavior (expenses stay Unreported). If the old bullet was factually incorrect, the removal is appropriate. If it described a different scenario, confirm the old content was indeed wrong before merging.

Recommendations

  1. Fix the grammar error in Workspace-Workflows.md: Change "If Submissions is turned disabled" to "If Submissions is disabled" or "If Submissions is turned off."
  2. Remove trailing whitespace on the Manually bullet in How-to-Set-Up-Automatic-Report-Submissions.md.
  3. Verify factual accuracy of removing the old "submitted instantly" bullet from Workspace-Workflows.md -- confirm the replacement note accurately describes the current product behavior.

Files Reviewed

  • docs/articles/new-expensify/reports-and-expenses/How-to-Set-Up-Automatic-Report-Submissions.md - Manually bullet clarified; new paragraph added explaining Submissions-off behavior. Minor trailing whitespace issue.
  • docs/articles/new-expensify/workspaces/Workspace-Workflows.md - Manually bullet clarified; old bullet replaced with note. Contains a grammar error that must be fixed.

Review based on governance rules defined in docs/HELP_AUTHORING_GUIDELINES.md, docs/HELPSITE_NAMING_CONVENTIONS.md, and docs/TEMPLATE.md. Only proposed changes (diff) were evaluated.

- If turned **off**, all reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses are submitted instantly.
- Manually – Expenses are still **auto-added to a report** as they're created, but employees must submit the report manually. This frequency only controls **when** reports are submitted, not whether expenses are placed on a report.

**Note:** If Submissions is turned disabled, expenses stay in the **Unreported** state until a member adds them to a report, and reports must be submitted manually. This is the only configuration that prevents expenses from being auto-added to a report.
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Grammatical error: "turned disabled" is not valid phrasing. Use either "turned off" or "disabled" — not both together.

Suggested change
**Note:** If Submissions is turned disabled, expenses stay in the **Unreported** state until a member adds them to a report, and reports must be submitted manually. This is the only configuration that prevents expenses from being auto-added to a report.
**Note:** If Submissions is disabled, expenses stay in the **Unreported** state until a member adds them to a report, and reports must be submitted manually. This is the only configuration that prevents expenses from being auto-added to a report.

- By trip – A report is submitted when no new expenses are added for two full days. A new trip report starts after that.
- Manually – Expenses are auto-added to a report, but employees must submit them manually.
- If turned **off**, all reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses are submitted instantly.
- Manually – Expenses are still **auto-added to a report** as they're created, but employees must submit the report manually. This frequency only controls **when** reports are submitted, not whether expenses are placed on a report.
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Terminology consistency: This article uses "employees" while the dedicated Submissions article (How-to-Set-Up-Automatic-Report-Submissions.md) uses "members" for the same concept. Per naming conventions, UI-exact terminology should be consistent across articles. Consider using "members" here to match.

Suggested change
- Manually – Expenses are still **auto-added to a report** as they're created, but employees must submit the report manually. This frequency only controls **when** reports are submitted, not whether expenses are placed on a report.
- Manually – Expenses are still **auto-added to a report** as they're created, but members must submit the report manually. This frequency only controls **when** reports are submitted, not whether expenses are placed on a report.

- **Twice a month** — Reports are submitted on the 15th and last day of the month
- **By trip** — A report is submitted after two full days without new expenses
- **Manually** — Expenses are auto-added to reports, but members must submit manually
- **Manually** — Expenses are still **auto-added to a report** as they're created, but members must submit the report manually.
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Formatting: Trailing whitespace after the period at the end of this line. Remove the extra space.

Suggested change
- **Manually** — Expenses are still **auto-added to a report** as they're created, but members must submit the report manually.
- **Manually** — Expenses are still **auto-added to a report** as they're created, but members must submit the report manually.


![Submissions section in Expensify Workflows settings, showing the toggle enabled and Frequency set to By trip]({{site.url}}/assets/images/ExpensifyHelp-WorkspaceSubmissions_ND.png){:width="100%"}

**To stop expenses from being auto-added to a report entirely**, toggle the **Submissions** setting **off**. With Submissions off, new expenses stay in the **Unreported** state until a member adds them to a report, and reports must be submitted manually. The **Manually** frequency above does not have this effect — it only delays submission, expenses are still auto-added to a report.
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Readability / structure: This paragraph sits as a standalone block between the image and the --- divider, without its own heading. Per the authoring guidelines, content sections should be organized under task-based ## headings. Consider placing this under a heading like ## How to stop expenses from being auto-added to a report so it is scannable and AI-retrievable as its own section.

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