Adding Markdown capabilities to the work item is a long-standing request. We introduced Markdown for comments in early 2024, but due to the rollout of the New Boards Hub, we put the feature on hold.

Today, we’re excited to announce a private preview for Markdown support in large text fields!

How it works

By default, all existing and new work items will continue using the HTML editor for large text fields. However, you now have the option to opt-in and use the Markdown editor for individual work items and fields.

Existing work items

Open the work item and click into a large text field (e.g., Description). The field will initially appear as an HTML editor, but you’ll now see an option to convert it to Markdown.

We perform a best-effort conversion of the HTML to Markdown.

Keep in mind, the more complex the HTML, the harder it is to accurately convert it. If your field contains intricate formatting, we recommend keeping it in HTML.

Important

Once you convert a field to Markdown, there’s no way to revert it back to HTML.

After the conversion takes place, the work item will display the text in Markdown format whenever you edit it.

You can also toggle a preview mode to see how your Markdown renders in real time.

New work items

For new work items, the experience is similar, except there is no existing data to convert.

Also, your editor preference is sticky. Meaning, if you choose Markdown for a new work item, we’ll remember your preference, and all future work items you create will default to Markdown.

If you prefer HTML for a particular field, you can select it, as long as the field is still empty.

Once a field is being used in Markdown mode, the HTML editor is no longer available. However, if you paste HTML into the editor, we’ll attempt to automatically convert it to Markdown.

Private preview

The Markdown editor is only available in New Boards. Your organization must be fully switched over. It will not work in Old Boards, and we cannot enable it if you still have the option to switch back.

We’re currently testing the preview internally and working through a few issues. That said, we’re collecting names of organizations interested in early access. We aim to launch the private preview in a few weeks.

Interested in joining?

If you’d like to participate, please email me directly. Be sure to include your organization name (https://dev.azure.com/organization).

We are excited to finally bring this to our users. It’s been a long time coming.

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