Understanding Report Statuses and Actions
Understand what each report status means, what actions are available, and how to manage reports, invoices, and IOUs in New Expensify.
Report Statuses
Each report status reflects a different stage in the reporting workflow:
- Open: The report is a draft. You can still add or remove expenses.
- Submitted: The report is awaiting approval from another person.
- Processing: The report is in progress—under review, held, or partially completed.
- Approved: The report is approved and ready for payment or export. This is the final status for reports containing only non-reimbursable (e.g. company card) expenses.
- Reimbursed: The report has been paid. All actions are complete.
- Closed: The report is locked. No further edits or deletions can be made. This is the final status for non-approvable reports.
Report Action Buttons
Green Button = Primary Action
Green buttons are dynamic and change depending on your role and the report’s status.
You’ll see a green button when a key action is available, such as Submit, Approve, Pay, or Export.
Grey Button = More Actions
The grey More button is always visible in the report header. Tap it to access additional options, including:
- Hold / Unhold
- Unapprove
- Download as CSV
- Change Workspace
- View Details
- Delete
- Decline
Context-Specific Buttons
Depending on the report status and your role, the primary action button may say:
- Submit: The report is ready to submit.
- Review: The report contains holds, violations, or duplicate warnings.
- A red dot means something needs attention.
- Approve: The report is ready for approval.
- Pay: The report has been approved and is ready for reimbursement.
- Export: Send the approved report to your accounting system.
- View: No further action is required; you have view-only access.
Special Actions
Held Expenses
If you’re an Approver who placed a hold, you’ll see a green Remove hold button. Other users will see a grey Review button.
Decline Expenses
If you’re an Approver reviewing an expense that shouldn’t have been submitted, you can Decline it back to the submitter with a reason. The decline reason will be added to the report. The expense can later be marked as resolved and resubmitted for approval.
Duplicate Expenses
- Submitters: See Review Duplicates if duplicates are suspected.
- Approvers: See Resolve Duplicates to take action.
Receipt Matching
If Expensify cannot detect a potential match between a SmartScanned receipt and a card transaction, you’ll see Mark as Cash as the suggested next step for the receipt.
Moving Expenses or Reports
- To move a single expense: Open the expense, then update the Report field to select another Open report.
- To move a report to another workspace: Tap More > Change Workspace.
Deleting a Report
- To delete a report: Go to an Open report and tap More > Delete.
- If the report contains only one expense, that expense will also be deleted.
- If the report contains multiple expenses, they will become Unreported and available to add to a new report.
Actions for Invoices and IOUs
Invoices - As the Receiver
- Use Pay to reimburse.
- Tap More for options like Download and View Details.
Invoices - As the Sender
- Choose Export or Mark as exported.
- Delete and Change Workspace are not available.
IOUs - As the Receiver
- You can Pay, Decline, Change Workspace, or Download.
IOUs - As the Sender
- Change Workspace converts the IOU into a regular expense report on the selected workspace.
FAQ
Where is the Submit or Approve button?
If no green button appears, it means no immediate action is required. Tap the More button to find available options.
Can I delete reports?
Yes—if the report is Open or Processing. Closed reports cannot be deleted.
Can I view report details?
Yes. Tap the report title or select View Details from the More menu.
