Need feedback on the release of a Markdown enhancement in Agent Workspace
We heard you! We have heard several complaints on the Markdown support we currently offer in Agent Workspace. We’re bringing you one of the fixes you requested.. There have been complaints that when you copy Markdown syntax and paste into the composer, the composer does not convert the Markdown syntax, which makes it difficult to tell how the Markdown will look once sent.
With this release, we are now providing an ability to copy Markdown syntax and have it render in the composer when you paste it:
- If you copy Markdown syntax from a plain text source and paste it into the composer, you should now see it convert to HTML.
- If you paste the copied Markdown syntax into a code block, it will not convert to HTML.
- If you paste the copied Markdown syntax using Cmd + Shift + V, it will not convert to HTML.
- If you copy markdown syntax from a rich text source and paste it into the composer, it will not convert to HTML.
This update should help agents work better with Markdown syntax. For more information on formatting text with Markdown, see this article.
Let us know if you like this change and if you have feedback on how we can improve this experience. If this change doesn’t work for you, we will appreciate if you can add the source you’re copying Markdown from, along with screenshots and code snippets. Thanks!
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This is definitely a welcome improvement!
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Thanks, Matthias Miltenberger :)
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This is a huge step forwards. Thank you.
I've tested a typical snipped block our support team uses. Most pasted text follows this format:
Words [link](https://example.com) and more words:
code block with a command
Additional words:
another code block with a command
I'm a master of words https://example.com/another-link
Closing out ticket words
(The formatting options for text in this comment box do not allow me to paste the above into a code block.)
Please note the two code blocks above start with four spaces which turns text into a code block via preview.
When testing in the UI that allows markdown preview the format is:
And Agent Workspace the same message pastes as:
The code blocks are filling the line below, the padding top and bottom around each line are lost and the closing line lost it's new line - all unexpected.
As an aside, initially when testing I was copying sample code from VSCode and pasting into Zendesk Agent Workspace and it didn't render. It turns out VSCode copies themed text as rich text and you have to change the default `editor.copyWithSyntaxHighlighting` setting to copy as plain text. (This may help a future reader)
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It's also now possible to paste in:
And have it render the image immediacy in browser, this continuity is important for us. Thank you!
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Thanks, Anthony Stenhouse - We'll have the team look into the issue you have described with additional line breaks. Thanks!
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Great update! Making it easier to copy formatting directly from Slack, as an example.
Amisha Sharma, the link in the text seems to be broken due to that article's permissions.
For more information on formatting text with Markdown, see this article.
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Oops, here you go: this.
Edited the article too. Thanks, Rafael Santos.
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After this update, we begin to lose line break when copying from Google Translate, which is a big deal for us and a very inconvenient process for the agents. I hope it can be fixed as it adds a lot of unnecessary manual work.
Google translate text and what we have in ticket are on screenshots.
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Agents from our team have reported the same thing as well with Google Translate.
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Our agents are reporting similar issues with copying/pasting text into the message composer in Support as well. When composing a message on an email ticket in particular, pasted text is stripped of line breaks, which makes paragraphs difficult to read.
This is an issue with a text expander program we use called Typinator, but is also an issue depending on where the agent copies formatted text from.
This update that we didn't have time to prepare for has impacted the ability for our agents to properly paste text. They now need to spend time formatting pasted text, which is an obstacle that wastes time in each ticket.
I am really hoping this can be addressed, while still maintaining the improvement to Markdown.
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Hello All,
Thanks for providing feedback. The issue with copying from Google Translate or Typinator and pasting into our composer is happening as these editors are plaintext. So, now when you copy anything from plaintext, we treat it as markdown and markdown ignores empty lines.
However, there is a workaround to retain the line breaks. While pasting into our composer, use Cmd + Shift + V instead of Cmd + V. Adding "Shift" to the pasting command will not convert it to markdown and hence, retain the line breaks.
Hope this helps!
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Hi Amisha Sharma, thanks for your followup.
While I know Zendesk can't support the Typinator program we are using, I wanted to note that this program doesn't involve copying/pasting - the text automatically expands based on a string of text that is typed. For that reason, we don't have the opportunity to use Cmd + Shift + V.
I will have our agents explore a possible solution within Typinator, but I hope this feedback and impact is considered.
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Hi all,
"Cmd + Shift + V" does the trick with Notepad on Windows but I can't use this trick with my "Flashpaste Lite" software, it manages itself the copy/paste feature and all line breaks are lost.
Could you please revert to the previous behavior that worked with all 3rd party software in the last 5 years?
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This is an issue with a text expander program we use called Typinator, but is also an issue depending on where the agent copies formatted text from.
Our agents have been experiencing the same thing with TextExpander.
This update that we didn't have time to prepare for has impacted the ability for our agents to properly paste text. They now need to spend time formatting pasted text, which is an obstacle that wastes time in each ticket.
100% agree.
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It looks like we're all reporting an issue with line breaks not being respected when using our normal workflows. As a customer who has been helping to push for markdown support, we're greatly appreciative of it being made available, however it's not fully functional for the workflows we have in place.
As copy/pasting or expanding text via a tool is a primary part of most agents workflow, it would make sense to support these existing workflows. Else having to edit every message to add additional line spaces is moving the type of problem and not solving the full problem. Is this something that can or will be resolved? Thanks 💓
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Anthony Stenhouse How did you get the embedded image markdown to work?
Style additions don't work for me at all in the new agent workspace.
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Great point Garrett Gustafson! I inadvertently used use an Alfred App snippet to create the link:
What I did was copy the URL to my clip board then typed ;im which auto expands to 
So the markdown updates in Agent Workspace does handled inline images via that method and pasting such a command from the clipboard, but NOT by typing .
That is a blocker for sure, thanks for raising it! Many of our agents inline images when responding to customers and type the command.
Amisha Sharma Please be aware there's an additional area that isn't work as our workflows required.
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Amisha Sharma Hi, has there been any further progress on the line spacing issues from expanding text? It's critical to our support workflows, as our team uses text expansion tools. It appears to be critical to other Zendesk customers too.
It looks like my query regrading the code blocks being incorrectly lengthened is still outstanding as well, but it looks related to the line spacing issues.
Can you please also advise how to make typing `` turn into an image as is supported via Markdown? (It only works when the line is pasted, not typed)
Thank you.
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I noticed that typing out markdown syntax for inline images no longer works:
It looks like I need to copy this syntax into another text editor and then paste it into Zendesk for the Agent Workspace editor to pick it up - am I missing something?
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Nick Meisenheimer That's the only way it appears to work - via pasting or a text expansion app. I was hoping we'd hear back from Zendesk on the issues highlighted in this thread, as they are blockers for full adoption of AW at the moment.
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Hello Anthony Stenhouse - Thanks for following up. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find a solution for the line breaks issue. When we treat a text as markdown syntax, it is markdown's nature to not respect line breaks and currently, there isn't a way to modify this behavior.
The other issue with typing the command to insert image is currently not supported by the technology we use to power our editor. We are following up with them to include this in the supported commands and will update you once we make progress on this one. It works if you copy and paste the command as part of the markdown enhancement feature release.
I do understand that the line breaks issue is painful at the moment and we continue to offer a way to opt out of this release. If using Cmd + Shift + V while pasting text is not working, please reach out to our advocacy team. Thanks!
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Hey Anthony Stenhouse - The issue with the code blocks spacing described here should be fixed now. Could you please check and confirm? Thanks!
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Amisha Sharma - Thanks for confirming the code blocks spacing issue has been resolved. I can confirm through testing:
The ability to support new lines via markdown is still an issue for us. If I do a CMD+SHIFT+V then the spacing is preserved but all other formatting is lost:
Some of our team also use text snippets to build out the base of their message, for example:
Hi {{ticket.requester.first_name}},
{Curser-Position-Automatically-Moves-Here}
Thanks,
AnthonyBut when attempting to use this in AW it doesn't work due to lack of line break support:
There will be more examples of this use-case across the team, but I think this covers the majority.
The other issue with typing the command to insert image is currently not supported by the technology we use to power our editor. We are following up with them to include this in the supported commands and will update you once we make progress on this one.
What's the editor name? Is there an issue that can be upvoted on their GitHub/GitLab page?
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Amisha Sharma re: When we treat a text as markdown syntax, it is markdown's nature to not respect line breaks and currently, there isn't a way to modify this behavior.
That's fine for single line breaks, but where Zendesk's composer differs is that markdown's nature is to treat blank lines as a new paragraph. Instead, we get all lines squished together. This is definitely a bug with whatever is powering your editor ☹️ Having just upgraded to Agent Workspace, has introduced headaches for our engineers.
I was going to share some screenshots for comparison but adding images to comments looks to be broken right now. You can see the difference when you add blank lines to the markdown dingus https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/dingus and compare the same text in a Zendesk comment.
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Hello everyone!
Thanks for your engagement on this post.
We're excited to announce that we've recently released a fix for the issue where line breaks were not respected when copying plaintext and pasting into our composer. It'll be super helpful if you can provide us feedback if it's working as expected now? Thanks!
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Amisha Sharma YES! Thank you, this looks much better now 😍
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Thank you Amisha Sharma, I've tested a few paths and all seem to be OK, this has resolved a huge blocker for us (and many others).
For adding images into the flow, I was able to get  to work when using a snippet, but copy/pasting the image from disk to the webform worked just as well and will likely be the path I recommend.
I'll take this back internally and discuss with our teams about our next steps in moving to AW. I expect we'll do further internal testing and need to change some of our workflows, but I think we're on a much brighter path to success than we were before.
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Thanks for the feedback! Glad to know it is working better now. :)
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Hello all,
I've some great news!
We're currently rolling out another markdown improvement: supporting markdown syntax for inline images and links. :)
The rollout is happening incrementally, we are hoping to complete the rollout by end of this week. Please do let us know your feedback. Thanks!
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Amisha Sharma How the code will look like for inline images? Also, how can we tell when our account will receive this update?
%60){kind=link}
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