Formatting text with Markdown

Markdown is a simple markup language you can use to easily add formatting, links, and images to plain text. In Zendesk, Markdown is available in the following places:

• Ticket comments (from the agent interface)
• Macros
• Agent signatures
• Help Center community posts and comments

In Help Center, Markdown is enabled by default. For agents to use Markdown in other places, an administrator has to enable it in your Zendesk account. For more information, see Enabling Markdown.

Note: Markdown is not available in email.

Topics covered in this article:

• Adding Markdown to text
  • Bold
  • Italics
  • Bulleted lists
  • Numbered lists
  • Nested lists
  • Headings
  • Block quotes
  • Inline code
  • Code blocks
  • Images
  • Links
  • Images that are also links
• Previewing Markdown in ticket comments

You can also watch this short video.

Using Markdown in a Ticket (01:41)

Adding Markdown to text

The following table shows examples of how you can use Markdown to add common formatting.

Note: These examples demonstrate one way you can add certain formatting. There might also be additional ways you can achieve the same formatting. There are also many more formatting options you can add with Markdown. For more options and information, see the complete Markdown syntax documentation.

Table 1. Examples of Markdown syntax

Formatting	Entered text	Published text
Bold	This is how you **bold** text.
Italics	This is how you *italicize* text.
Bulleted lists	* Bullet one (don't forget a space after the asterisk) * Bullet two
Numbered lists	1. Step one 2. Step two
Nested lists	* This is the first level of this list. * To make a second level, add two spaces before the asterisk or number. Note: You can add things like images, quote blocks, or links to a nested list in addition to just text.
Headings	# Heading level one (with a space after the #) ## Heading level two ### Heading level three Note: You can add up to six heading levels.
Block quotes	> Block quotes have to start and end with a blank line > And each line of the quote starts with a right angle bracket and a space
Inline code	Here is some `inline code.`
Code blocks	``` This is a code block. ``` Note: Creating a blank line and then indenting the next line or lines with four spaces creates a code block too.
Images	 Community tip! Evan shares a simple tip in our forums for embedding an image that's not hosted.
Links	[Link display text](http://www.sampleurl.com)
Images that are also links	[](linkurl)
Horizontal rule line	--- Note: You must type a line break before and after the hyphens.

Previewing Markdown in ticket comments

When you use Markdown in a ticket comment, you can preview your formatting before submitting the comment. You enter your comment with Markdown formatting, like in the example below.

Then, click Preview to view how your ticket comment will look when posted.