{"id":70383,"date":"2025-03-13T12:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T20:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/?p=70383"},"modified":"2025-04-15T10:12:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T18:12:36","slug":"markdown-for-large-text-fields-private-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/markdown-for-large-text-fields-private-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Markdown for large text fields (private preview)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\ud83d\udce2 As of April 15th, we are no longer accepting private preview requests. We have enough participants signed up to provide feedback. Keep an eye on the Azure DevOps release notes for the general availability announcement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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<\/a>, we put the feature on hold.<\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019re excited to announce a private preview for Markdown support in large text fields! \ud83c\udf89<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd84 How it works<\/h1>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Existing work items<\/h3>\n

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\u2019ll now see an option to convert it to Markdown.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

We perform a best-effort conversion of the HTML to Markdown.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n

\u26a0\ufe0f Important<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you convert a field to Markdown, there\u2019s no way to revert it back to HTML.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After the conversion takes place, the work item will display the text in Markdown format whenever you edit it.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also toggle a preview mode to see how your Markdown renders in real time.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

New work items<\/h3>\n

For new work items, the experience is similar, except there is no existing data to convert.<\/p>\n

Also, your editor preference is sticky. Meaning, if you choose Markdown for a new work item, we\u2019ll remember your preference, and all future work items you create will default to Markdown.<\/p>\n

If you prefer HTML for a particular field, you can select it, as long as the field is still empty.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2019ll attempt to automatically convert it to Markdown.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\uddfe Private preview<\/h1>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re currently testing the preview internally and working through a few issues. That said, we\u2019re collecting names of organizations interested in early access. We aim to launch the private preview in a few weeks.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udea7 Interested in joining?<\/h1>\n

If you\u2019d like to participate, please email me directly<\/a>. Be sure to include your organization name (https:\/\/dev.azure.com\/organization).<\/p>\n

We are excited to finally bring this to our users. It\u2019s been a long time coming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ud83d\udce2 As of April 15th, we are no longer accepting private preview requests. We have enough participants signed up to provide feedback. Keep an eye on the Azure DevOps release notes for the general availability announcement. Adding Markdown capabilities to the work item is a long-standing request. We introduced Markdown for comments in early 2024, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":921,"featured_media":66588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[227,224,229,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agile","category-azure","category-community","category-devops"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

\ud83d\udce2 As of April 15th, we are no longer accepting private preview requests. We have enough participants signed up to provide feedback. Keep an eye on the Azure DevOps release notes for the general availability announcement. Adding Markdown capabilities to the work item is a long-standing request. We introduced Markdown for comments in early 2024, […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/921"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/devops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}