[Due for payment 2025-11-26] [$250] Android - Scan receipt- Unable to download a receipt in the confirmation page

[jponikarchuk]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: v9.2.47-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/folder/13176933/test-cases/41237700
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): testpayment935@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Samsung s10/ Android 12
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Open Hybrid App
2. Navigate to the workspace chat as the employee
3. Select the option to Submit expense > Scan receipt
4. Select the option to upload a receipt
5. Upload a receipt file
6. Click on the receipt to open the image to see it fully
7. From three dot menu choose Download options

Expected Result:

Both the download and replace options works well

Actual Result:

Unable to download a receipt error shown

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

1.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021987936396746461489
• Upwork Job ID: 1987936396746461489
• Last Price Increase: 2025-11-10

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @Christinadobrzyn

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @Christinadobrzyn (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details. Please add this bug to a GH project, as outlined in the SO.

[nkdengineer]

Proposal

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

Unable to download a receipt error shown

What is the root cause of that problem?

The local source can contain URL-encoded characters

And we pass this soure here without decoded the URI, the error appears because we can't find the file with this URI.

App/src/libs/fileDownload/index.android.ts

Line 83 in 29b9755

attachmentPath ?? '',

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

We should decode the URI first

let attachmentPath = isLocalFile ? decodeURIComponent(url ?? '') : undefined;

App/src/libs/fileDownload/index.android.ts

Line 49 in 29b9755

let attachmentPath = isLocalFile ? url : undefined;

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

We can hide the download option for the local file here even if draftTransactionID eixsts

App/src/pages/media/AttachmentModalScreen/routes/TransactionReceiptModalContent.tsx

Line 177 in 29b9755

if ((!isOffline && allowDownload && !isLocalSource) || !!draftTransactionID) {

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[TaduJR]

Proposal

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

On Android, when uploading a scanned receipt with spaces in the filename, clicking "Download" from the three-dot menu shows an "Unable to download a receipt" error.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The local file URI contains URL-encoded characters (e.g., %20 for spaces), but this encoded URI is passed directly to the filesystem API without decoding.

The file URI is URL-encoded:

file:///data/cache/receipt%202024-10-10%2006_43_12.pdf

But the actual filename has spaces:

receipt 2024-10-10 06_43_12.pdf

At line 49, the URL-encoded URI is assigned without decoding:

App/src/libs/fileDownload/index.android.ts

Line 49 in 5dc4f0c

let attachmentPath = isLocalFile ? url : undefined;

let attachmentPath = isLocalFile ? url : undefined;

This encoded path is then passed to copyToMediaStore at line 83:

App/src/libs/fileDownload/index.android.ts

Lines 76 to 84 in 5dc4f0c

	return RNFetchBlob.MediaCollection.copyToMediaStore(
	{
	name: attachmentName,
	parentFolder: 'Expensify',
	mimeType: null,
	},
	'Download',
	attachmentPath ?? '',
	);

The API interprets %20 as literal characters instead of an encoded space, resulting in "No such file" error.

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

Decode the URI at line 49:

App/src/libs/fileDownload/index.android.ts

Line 49 in 5dc4f0c

let attachmentPath = isLocalFile ? url : undefined;

Before:

let attachmentPath = isLocalFile ? url : undefined;

After:

let attachmentPath = isLocalFile ? decodeURI(url) : undefined;

This decodes URL-encoded characters (%20 → space) so the path matches the actual filename on disk.

Why decodeURI() instead of decodeURIComponent():

Both functions decode URL-encoded characters, but they handle reserved characters differently:

• decodeURI(): Designed for complete URIs. Decodes %20, %23, etc., but preserves / (won't decode %2F)
• decodeURIComponent(): Designed for URI components. Decodes everything including %2F → /

Advantages of decodeURI() for file URIs:

1. Preserves path structure - Won't decode %2F to /, preventing potential directory traversal issues

   • Example: If a path contains folder%2Ffile, decodeURIComponent() would incorrectly decode it to folder/file, changing the directory structure
   • decodeURI() keeps it as folder%2Ffile, matching the actual filename

2. Semantically correct - Designed for complete URIs (like file paths), not URI components (like query parameters)

   • Using the right tool for the job makes code more maintainable and predictable

3. Safer for edge cases - While Android sanitizes / in filenames, defensive coding prevents issues if this changes or in unexpected scenarios

4. Matches existing codebase pattern - Consistency improves code quality:

App/src/libs/fileDownload/checkFileExists/index.ts

Lines 15 to 20 in 5dc4f0c

	// Decode URI if it's URL-encoded (handles special characters in filenames)
	let decodedPath = path;
	try {
	decodedPath = decodeURI(path);
	} catch (e) {
	// If decoding fails, use the original path

5. Better readability - Future developers will immediately understand we're decoding a complete URI, not a URI component

[Christinadobrzyn]

I'm not able to reproduce this in Browserstack as I don't have access to any files for testing. Since there are proposals of this I'll add External to continue.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021987936396746461489

[melvin-bot]

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

[TaduJR]

Hello @Christinadobrzyn

Please use PDF file that have spaces on the filename.

You can reliably reproduce after that

Thank you