Bug Tasks show parent Bug description Markdown as plain text

Question

Bug Tasks show parent Bug description Markdown as plain text

Marek 20

Markdown formatting from Bug description is not displayed correctly in Bug Task

Description:

When creating a work item of type Bug, it is possible to write the description using Markdown formatting. The issue occurs when a Bug Task is created under this Bug.

In the Bug Task, the linked/previewed content from the original Bug is displayed, but the Markdown formatting is no longer rendered correctly. Instead, the Markdown syntax is shown as plain text, which makes the content difficult to read.

Example:

In the Bug description:

START OF MARKDOWN

Step to Reprodue:

Open patient
Click the button
Verify the result

Expected result: Navigation works correctly.

Actual result: The application crashes with an error.

END OF MARKDOWN

In the Bug itself, the text is displayed correctly as Markdown.

In the Bug Task, the same content is displayed as plain text, including Markdown symbols such as ###, **, numbered lists, etc.

Steps to reproduce:

Create a new work item of type Bug. Add a description using Markdown formatting. Save the Bug. Create a Bug Task under the Bug. Open the Bug Task and check the section where the content from the parent Bug is displayed.

Actual result:

Markdown formatting from the Bug description is displayed as plain text in the Bug Task. The content is hard to read and visually unclear.

Expected result:

The content from the Bug description should be rendered as Markdown in the Bug Task as well, the same way it is displayed in the original Bug.

Suggested solution:

Add Markdown rendering support to the Bug Task section where the linked/parent Bug content is displayed. Alternatively, convert the Markdown content into formatted text before displaying it in the Bug Task.

Impact:

This reduces the readability of Bug descriptions in related Bug Tasks. Longer descriptions with headings, lists, bold text, or structured reproduction steps become difficult to read, which may slow down testers and developers when working with Bug Tasks.

Thank you.

Best regards, Marek

Pravallika KV 17,025 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-13T13:53:24.2966667+00:00
Hi Marek,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

The rich Markdown you enter in your Bug’s Description gets flattened to plain text (with all the ###, **, etc.) once you look at it in a child Bug Task’s “Parent” panel. That makes long reproduction steps or bolded/numbered lists much harder to read.

Today, Azure Boards doesn’t render Markdown in those linked‐item previews—by design it simply shows the raw field value. If you click the parent Bug’s title (to open it in a full work‐item form), you’ll see the Description rendered properly there. There isn’t a built‐in toggle or setting to change that behavior right now.

Workarounds & Next Steps:

Open the parent Bug in a separate tab or side-by-side to see your nicely formatted Markdown.

If you really need the child Task to contain rendered content, you could copy–paste the rendered HTML (or a screenshot) into a Task field manually, though I realize that’s not ideal.

This limitation has been logged as a community suggestion (365464) and you can vote/comment here: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/support-markdown-as-an-alternative-to-html-for-wor/365464

Follow-Up Questions

Are you on Azure DevOps Services or an on-prem Server/TFS version?

What browser and Azure DevOps UI version are you using?

Is this behavior blocking your team’s workflow, or is it more of a readability convenience?
Marek 20 Reputation points

2026-05-13T13:59:06.1066667+00:00

I am using the standard Azure DevOps Services version through the browser, specifically Google Chrome.

The issue is not fully blocking our workflow, but it makes the content much harder to read. The markdown formatting is displayed correctly in the original Bug, but when a Bug Task is created under it, the linked description/content appears as plain text instead of rendered markdown.

It feels inconsistent and a bit strange from a user perspective. If the Bug already supports rendering markdown correctly, would it be difficult to support the same markdown rendering in the Bug Task preview/link area as well?

This would significantly improve readability and make the copied/linked content much clearer.
Pravallika KV 17,025 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-20T10:20:52.73+00:00

@Marek , following up to see if you had a chance to check the above response and if it was helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Marek 20 Reputation points

2026-05-21T05:47:49.54+00:00

@Pravallika KV , yes, thank you, your response was helpful.

I have already submitted this issue to the Azure DevOps Developer Community as well, but unfortunately it seems the person who reviewed it may not have fully understood the problem. The bug was closed as “Not Enough Info”, although I am not sure what additional information I can provide.

Because of NDA restrictions, I cannot freely share real screenshots or recordings from our environment. I tried to describe the issue as clearly as possible, including that the Markdown is rendered correctly in the original Bug, but appears as plain text in the linked Bug Task preview.

Here is the Developer Community issue: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Bug-Tasks-show-parent-Bug-description-Ma/11090024

Thank you again for confirming that this does look inconsistent from a usability perspective.

Answer accepted by question author

Pravallika KV 17,025 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Marek ,

Thank you for clarifying and I completely understand your point.

What you're describing does appear inconsistent from a usability perspective. Since Azure DevOps already renders Markdown correctly when the Bug itself is opened, it’s reasonable to expect the same rendering behavior in the parent/linked Bug preview shown inside a Bug Task.

At the moment, however, the preview panel in linked work items appears to display the raw field content rather than processing it through the Markdown renderer used in the full work item view. Because of that, Markdown syntax such as headings, lists, and bold formatting is shown as plain text.

Since this is affecting usability rather than functionality, I would strongly encourage submitting or upvoting feedback through the Azure DevOps Developer Community, as this is exactly the kind of UI consistency improvement the product team may consider for future updates.

Hope this helps!

If the resolution was helpful, kindly take a moment to click on User's image and click on Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

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Pravallika KV 17,025 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-13T13:53:24.2966667+00:00

Hi Marek,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

The rich Markdown you enter in your Bug’s Description gets flattened to plain text (with all the ###, **, etc.) once you look at it in a child Bug Task’s “Parent” panel. That makes long reproduction steps or bolded/numbered lists much harder to read.

Today, Azure Boards doesn’t render Markdown in those linked‐item previews—by design it simply shows the raw field value. If you click the parent Bug’s title (to open it in a full work‐item form), you’ll see the Description rendered properly there. There isn’t a built‐in toggle or setting to change that behavior right now.

Workarounds & Next Steps:

Open the parent Bug in a separate tab or side-by-side to see your nicely formatted Markdown.

If you really need the child Task to contain rendered content, you could copy–paste the rendered HTML (or a screenshot) into a Task field manually, though I realize that’s not ideal.

This limitation has been logged as a community suggestion (365464) and you can vote/comment here: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/support-markdown-as-an-alternative-to-html-for-wor/365464

Follow-Up Questions

Are you on Azure DevOps Services or an on-prem Server/TFS version?

What browser and Azure DevOps UI version are you using?

Is this behavior blocking your team’s workflow, or is it more of a readability convenience?
Marek 20 Reputation points

2026-05-13T13:59:06.1066667+00:00

I am using the standard Azure DevOps Services version through the browser, specifically Google Chrome.

The issue is not fully blocking our workflow, but it makes the content much harder to read. The markdown formatting is displayed correctly in the original Bug, but when a Bug Task is created under it, the linked description/content appears as plain text instead of rendered markdown.

It feels inconsistent and a bit strange from a user perspective. If the Bug already supports rendering markdown correctly, would it be difficult to support the same markdown rendering in the Bug Task preview/link area as well?

This would significantly improve readability and make the copied/linked content much clearer.
Pravallika KV 17,025 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-20T10:20:52.73+00:00

@Marek , following up to see if you had a chance to check the above response and if it was helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Marek 20 Reputation points

2026-05-21T05:47:49.54+00:00

@Pravallika KV , yes, thank you, your response was helpful.

I have already submitted this issue to the Azure DevOps Developer Community as well, but unfortunately it seems the person who reviewed it may not have fully understood the problem. The bug was closed as “Not Enough Info”, although I am not sure what additional information I can provide.

Because of NDA restrictions, I cannot freely share real screenshots or recordings from our environment. I tried to describe the issue as clearly as possible, including that the Markdown is rendered correctly in the original Bug, but appears as plain text in the linked Bug Task preview.

Here is the Developer Community issue: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/Bug-Tasks-show-parent-Bug-description-Ma/11090024

Thank you again for confirming that this does look inconsistent from a usability perspective.

Answer 1

Bug work items and other long-text fields in Azure DevOps are in the process of gaining Markdown editing and rendering support, similar to comments and discussion fields. The behavior described—Markdown rendering working in the Bug description but not in the preview/linked content area in a Bug Task—matches a gap where Markdown is not yet fully supported across all work item surfaces.

Current roadmap items indicate that:

Work items are being updated to support Markdown editing for long text fields such as Description and Repro Steps.
Markdown support is being extended across work item experiences, but not all views/sections render Markdown yet.

Because of this, the Bug Task’s preview of the parent Bug content can still show raw Markdown instead of rendered formatting. This is a platform limitation rather than a configuration issue.

Workarounds until full support is available include:

Opening the parent Bug directly when detailed, formatted steps are needed, instead of relying on the preview in the Bug Task.
Copying critical parts of the Bug description into the Bug Task’s own Description field (which benefits from Markdown support as it rolls out to long text fields).

As Markdown support for work items continues to roll out, the preview/linked content areas are expected to be aligned with the main work item fields so that Markdown is rendered consistently.

References:

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Bug Tasks show parent Bug description Markdown as plain text

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