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I'm using Jira for issue tracking and would like to be able to write issue descriptions and comments using Markdown. Is there a way to do that? If not Markdown, wiki syntax, Textile, whatever -- just a way to get some mild html formatting into the page.

FWIW, something with a live preview, like SO would be great, but I'm really talking about on the rendering side. (Obviously, I can type all the Markdown I want :)

Michael Konietzka
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sprugman
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3 Answers3

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There is now an unofficially supported plugin to support just this.

Now all we need to do is get Atlassian to support it properly (:

0xC0000022L
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Jay
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    Excellent news, thanks for raising awareness regarding this promising solution for a long standing issue immediately :) – Steffen Opel Mar 21 '12 at 13:33
  • Markdown simplifies my life so I have an interest in sharing the news! I have no interest in learning 10 different "markup" languages. – Jay Mar 22 '12 at 07:09
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    The markdown add-on is currently out of date. There is a an open ticket you can vote on to get it updated: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-39919 – Russ Sep 12 '14 at 17:23
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    @Russ: latest news is from 2015-04-22 with an official statement from the product manager and the gist is **we're not ready to commit to official support of the plugin at this time.** :( ... at work we use DokuWiki, Twiki, Redmine, MediaWiki and at least one other Wiki, restructuredText, Markdown ... this is *very* painful. – 0xC0000022L Apr 23 '15 at 10:16
  • @0xC0000022L Yep - I saw that. I keep hoping someone will just step up and fix it. It doesn't seem like it would be that difficult, given that they support alternative markup rendering and it worked before. The java/javascript stack there is outside of my wheelhouse, otherwise I'd just fix the darn thing myself. :( I also immediately went and checked YouTrack for markdown support, but they don't support it either. – Russ Apr 23 '15 at 14:03
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    I created [a bounty](https://www.bountysource.com/issues/11875358-jira-6-support) for fixing this JIRA 6 issue. Please support it if you want it fixed! (@0xC0000022L - you may be interested). – Russ Apr 23 '15 at 15:22
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You need to change the field's renderer to 'Wiki Style Renderer'. You can do this by editing the field configuration for your project and click the renderers link next to the field you want to change. You can apply this rendering to both default and custom text fields. Of course, once you switch a field to wiki, you won't be able to go back very easily. Fortunately, this can be configured on a per project basis.

See the following documentation for detailed instructions:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Specifying+Field+Behavior

codeturner
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    While it is close, the "Wiki Style Renderer" is not exactly MarkDown as I know it. With that said, the Wiki Style was turned on by default on the comment field for "Simple Issue Tracking" and "Project Management" (I have yet to try others). Using Wiki syntax really makes me miss [GHFM](https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown/). :( – mhulse Feb 12 '15 at 16:54
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You can use Confluence Wiki syntax in description and comment fields. You'll see a Help icon next to the field when you're in edit mode where you can look at the syntax; there is also a preview button to look at your changes before you save.

gareth_bowles
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