Formatting text with Markdown

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53 Comments

  • Rob Mensching

    Is there a schedule posted somewhere when the rest of the "Not supported, yet" items will be implemented? For example, the lack of Link is a major loss of functionality from the old, simple editor.

    6
  • Matthias Miltenberger

    Not being able to copy-paste correct Markdown snippets is a major issue. We have defined many custom snippets that are not working correctly anymore due to this bug.

    No one needs this live preview functionality when writing proper Markdown-formatted text - it just makes everything so much harder to edit. In the past, there was a dedicated preview window that rendered the Markdown while you could type the actual text in raw format. This is the only way to use Markdown properly and is an established scheme on many websites hosting technical text (e.g. GitHub, Stackoverflow).

    PLEASE enable a simple raw text editor that does not try to be smart by messing with your text/code during editing.

    5
  • Jorge Hueso

    Hi,

    I know the question was already asked, I just want to know if it is going to be implemented or not. We have customers that work in several languages and want to translate their macros in an easy way. We first thought to replace the content of the macro by a dc, this does not work for macros though (html content in dc for macros). We've found another solution with the markdown language, but one important drawback is that the link syntax is not supported. Therefore my question: Could you please clarify if this syntax is going to be supported?

    Thanks in advance.

    4
  • Amisha Sharma
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Hello All,

    Thanks for your feedback on the current markdown support in Agent Workspace.

    The below use cases are on our radar:

    1. Provide an option to disable the real-time conversion of markdown syntax. 

    2. Convert the markdown syntax when pasted into the composer.

    We're currently working on the second use case and will be sure to update you when released. It should be available on Agent Workspace in a couple of days. Thanks!

     

    1
  • Gab Guinto
    Zendesk Customer Care

    Hi Jonas,

    Since end-users actually don't have the ability to use Markdown in their comments, the text will not be rendered if the submitter or author id passed along with the api call is an end-user. Markdown will be respected only if you use a staff member's user ID as update/comment author. I'm afraid that there is currently no workaround for this.

    Alternatively, you can use html formatting instead of markdown. Html tags for text formatting should work for end users.

    Thanks Jonas!

    1
  • Chris Fassano

    The CKEditor was enabled in our account (we use Agent Workspace). I noticed that the syntax isn't rendered when it's copy & pasted into the comment field.  Is that expected behavior?
     

    1
  • Nick Vincent-Maloney

    Agreed Matthias Miltenberger! Another bonehead move on ZD's part. We already struggle with this silly feature in Jira. MD is such a powerful tool and both these companies are ruining in a failed attempt to make it more user-friendly.

    1
  • Aoife O'Neill

    We use dynamic content in our macros to support customers who speak other languages, but when we send dynamic content that contains markdown through live chat or messenger, the markdown is not supported. Agents have to manually remove the markdown before using the macro. Can you suggest a way that we can keep our macros formatted without sending raw markdown to customers on live chat? 

    1
  • Nick Vincent-Maloney

    Where is strike-through?

    1
  • Jacob Allen Wood

    I've been de-bugging macros now for a week. Unfortunately, most of what is described above does not function in many situations.

    For example: getting 1 line after a header, before a list (bullets); getting 1 line between bullets (it's either 0 or 2, from every combination I can); getting block quotes to only block quote the content line, not every empty line above it. It's been really, really frustrating. 

    Could we get an update on this article that include putting elements together, like header followed by a list (spacing & syntax)?

    Getting 1 line between bullets, not 0 and not 2. (syntax)?

    1
  • Pete Forman

    Is there an escape character to prevent further interpretation?

    I suspect that some other magic is being applied rather than markdown.

    In my particular example I pasted some code into a code block using control-shift-V. It rendered fine in my agent web page. When I submitted my reply a word delimited by doubled braces was removed. That was {{project}} which I will spell out as OPEN_BRACE OPEN_BRACE project CLOSE_BRACE CLOSE_BRACE in case it gets mangled here too.

    0
  • Yu Sakaguchi

    Are there anyway to have users open the link in new tab?

    [link](URL){:target="_blank"}

    something like this perhaps?

    0
  • Otto Berger

    In Zendesk it is possible to add background color to text in a way of highlighting parts. how can be this done with markdown instead of using the formatting-menu?


    <span style="color:red">cardinals</span>


    doesnt work

    0
  • Jonas Jansson

    We are creating tickets via the API zendesk.com/api/v2/tickets but we have to use an agent and use it with submitter_id for markdown to take effect otherwise the markdown formatting is just presented in plain text ... is there another solution for it to work?

    The above sulution unfortunately disables SLA policies

    0
  • Edgar Comper

    Hi Stacy,

    When you enable the Markdown option under Admin > Settings > Tickets, you must enable the 'Include plain text fallback' option to prevent your existing macros from being messy. (learn more here https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001236988-Creating-macros-for-tickets#topic_o1b_myd_yy).

    Unfortunately, there is no way to bulk enable this option. This must be done manually.

    Edgar | Technical Support Engineer | EMEA

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Manager

    Hey Jiri,

    Thanks for getting back to me! I did some testing with markdown and tried creating a table but it doesn't look like this is possible in Zendesk. I'd recommend creating a feedback post in our Support Feedback Topic for our product managers to review.

    I appreciate you taking the time to share this with us!

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Manager

    Hey Jiri,

    Have you had a chance to look at our app marketplace? It looks like there's a Tables app created by Sparkly that will accomplish what you're looking for.

    I hope this helps!

    0
  • Mikhail Filimonov

    It seems like after that change the raw Markdown support disappeared after switching from Standard Agent Interface to Agent Workspace :( Now it only some Markdown-compatible shortcuts in the WYSIWYG editor.

    https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4418873093018-Raw-Markdown-support-in-Agent-workspace

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Manager

    Hey Jarl,

    At this time there's no way to add custom buttons to the WYSIWYG editor in Guide natively. You may be able to set this up using custom code but you'd need to get your developers involved to help set this up.

    Let us know if you have any other questions!

    0
  • Jarl Frode Arntzen

    @... 

    Thanks for the swift response.

    So, the pale yellow "Note" sections in the articles has been implemented through manually adding <div class="note note" > ... </div> around the relevant text? Or is there some way we can add custom buttons to the editor which allow the writers to insert such custom formatting by simply selecting the text and clicking the relevant button?

    I mean, manually adding such html tags is perfectly doable (we already have a custom theme and we have added the relevant CSS), but I'm just wondering if there's a way to make this even more user friendly for my co-workers.

    Thanks.

    0
  • Amisha Sharma
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Hello All,

    We worked on an enhancement for markdown support and would love your feedback here: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4799753297818-Need-feedback-on-the-release-of-a-Markdown-enhancement-in-Agent-Workspace

    Thank you!

     

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Manager
    Hey Otto, 
     
    It looks like you can only edit the text color and not the text background at this time. More information in this article: Announcing support for color text in the Zendesk Agent Workspace
     
    Let us know if you have any other questions!
     
    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Manager
    Hey Teresa,
     
    Thanks for bringing this to our attention! It looks like this user tip is no longer available as it was created around 10 years ago and is now outdated.

    I will follow up with our documentation team to have this link removed. In the meantime, you could try the following steps which I believe was mentioned by Evan in his post:

     

    If you'd like to upload an image and use it as an embedded image like you would do in markdown, simply drag-and-drop or attach your screenshot to the ticket. Then, right-click the attachment at the bottom and copy the URL and use this to embed your image.

    This helps avoid the need for a third-party image host. I've tested this in case there were restrictions on viewing the image and the end user can see it fine. 

     
    Please note this does not work if you have Private Attachments enabled (Admin > Tickets > Attachments).
    Also, make sure you click the attachment link in the ticket to open the attached image in a modal box. Then, right-click the image and select click Copy image URL. Do not click on the image link before opening the attachment, which opens a new browser tab. The URL in the new browser tab will not work, as this includes a temporary token.
     
    I hope this helps!
    0
  • Mike Fishman

    Is there a setting within the admin console to disable markdown? Our team is getting frustrated by hyphens being changed to bullets automatically when entering internal notes. Even though they can CMD+Z to undo the bullet, I'd like to know if it can be shut off to not happen in the first place. I cannot find anything related to markdown or auto-bullets when reviewing settings in the admin center. I could be overlooking it if it's labeled differently though. 

    0
  • Ashley Woten

    Hi!

    I suggest an update to the table, the Heading row. It mentions 'up to six levels' in the Entered text column and 'up to four levels' in the Comments column.

    Testing in the composer, it looks to only be up to 4. Thanks!

    0
  • Amie Brennan

    Hi Umat,

    What you're trying to do isn't currently possible with Markdown in Zendesk. 

    Best,

    Amie

    0
  • Dave Dyson
    Thanks for the feedback, Ashley! I'll let our documentation team know.
    0
  • Torsten Serfling

    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 to paste.

    We have often the case, that we copy content from documentation, configuration files or log files in the comment editor in Support. This content often contains text like abc_xyz_iii, which becomes to abcxyziii by the automatically formatting. If this is not noticed by the agent, wrong information are provided to the customer.

    If I copying text from a plain text editor (e.g. with Ctrl+V) I expect, that only the text is copied "as is" to the editor and not additional formatting is done. If the content should be formatted, this should be possible by pressing an additional key, not vice versa. Especially if we use the "Rich content" formatting instead of the "Markdown" formatting for comments. I don't know any tool which handles it in the way, which it is done in Zendesk.

    It is also confusing, that any othet editor works differently. We don't notice the behavior in the editor for side conversations. Also in the end user editor in Guide or writing an article or community post, the copied content is not formatted.

     

    0
  • Christine Felicia
    Zendesk Engineering
    Hey Mike,

    The option to choose a ticket comment format option is visible to the Owner or Admins of the account.

    The formatting option available is either Rich content or Markdown and can be changed by the Owner or any Admin by accessing the Admin Center > Object and rules > Settings > Comments option.


     
    Although, when selecting any of the formatting options both will change a hyphen into a bullet when entering text and there's no way to disable this feature. When typing a text instead of typing "- + space + undo to remove the bullet", you can backspace instead and the bullet formatting will be removed. Or you can just type "- + without any spaces" so the bullet won't appear on your notes.

    Hope this helps.
    0
  • saasten (light agent)


    I can't do this in messaging section

    0

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