Formatting text with Markdown

What's my plan?

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

• Ticket comments (from the agent interface)
• Macros
• Agent signatures
• Dynamic content
• Content blocks in help center articles

Markdown commands are automatically supported by your ticket editor. You can enter Markdown comments to format your content, or you can use the format toolbar to add rich content. See Table 1 below for supported Markdown commands.

Note: Markdown is not available in emails and email templates. If you enter text with Markdown syntax, the formatting will not render and the text will remain as is. For a detailed list of where Markdown is supported, see Where can I use Markdown and HTML in Zendesk Support?

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
  • Links to tickets
  • Horizontal line rule
  • Line break
  • Underscore
• Pasting Markdown text from another source

Adding Markdown to text

The following table shows examples of how you can use Markdown to add common formatting. You don't need to preview your formatting. Your content is formatted automatically as you enter Markdown commands. 

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.

You can also watch this short video.

Table 1. Examples of Markdown syntax

Formatting	Entered text	Published text	Comments
Bold	This is how you **bold** text.		Supported
Italics	This is how you *italicize* text.		Supported
Bulleted lists	* Bullet one (don't forget a space after the asterisk) * Bullet two You must type a line break before and after the list.		Supported. You can also start with a hyphen (-) followed by a space to create a bulleted list.
Numbered lists	1. Step one 2. Step two Do not use a hashtag (#) when creating numbered lists in Markdown, as the symbol is used for other formatting. You must type a line break before and after the list.  Numbered lists will always start with 1, regardless of what number was pasted. If you need a list to use different numbers, you need to paste plain text.		Supported
Nested lists	* This is the first level of this list. You can add things like images, quote blocks, or links to a nested list in addition to just text. You must type a line break before and after the list.		Supported, except for content blocks. For the second level of indent, press Tab after the bulleted list or numbered list.
Headings	# Heading level one (with a space after the #) ## Heading level two ### Heading level three		Supported. Up to four heading levels. Up to six heading levels in content blocks.
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		Supported
Inline code	Here is some `inline code.`		Supported
Code blocks	``` This is a code block. ``` Creating a blank line and then indenting the next line or lines with four spaces creates a code block too. You must type a line break before and after the code block.		Supported. To exit a code block placed at the end of a comment, press the Return key three times in a row.
Images	 Tip: To embed an image that's not hosted, first attach the image to the ticket. Then open the attachment, right-click the image, select Copy image URL, and use this link to embed your image. Doesn't work if private attachments are enabled.		Supported, except for content blocks. Adding an image URL automatically turns it into an image link. When the ticket comment is submitted, the image appears in the conversation log.*
Links	[Link display text](http://www.sampleurl.com)		Supported in agent signatures*
Images that are also links	[](linkurl)		Supported in agent signatures*
Links to tickets	We addressed this in ticket #61.		Not supported, yet
Horizontal rule line	--- You must enter a line break before and after the hyphens. If you have three or more dashes under a line of text, with no blank space between them, instead of creating a horizontal rule below the text, the text above will change into a header.		Supported
Line break	Line 1   Line 2   You must type two line breaks before each  .	Line 1 Line 2	Not supported, except for content blocks. In content blocks, type Shift+Enter to add a line break.
Underscore	This is how you \_underscore\_ text.	This is how you underscore text.	Supported only in content blocks.
* When you enter URLs for links and images, make sure you include the full URL, including the http:// or https:// prefix.

Pasting Markdown text from another source

Here are some things to consider when you copy Markdown text from another source and paste it into the ticket composer:

• If you copy text with Markdown commands from a plain text editor, the content is automatically formatted as soon as you paste it. If you don't want the content to be automatically formatted, use Cmd+Shift+V (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+V (Windows) to paste.
• If you paste text with Markdown commands from a rich text editor, the Markdown commands remain "as is". The content is not automatically formatted.
• If you copy text with Markdown commands from any type of editor into a code block in the ticket composer, the content is not automatically formatted. It remains "as is."
• If you paste Markdown text with code blocks or nested lists, the format is not automatically carried over into the ticket composer.