You just start writing Markdown text, save the file with the.md extension and then you can toggle the visualization of the editor between the code and the preview of the Markdown file; obviously, you can also open an existing Markdown file and start working with it. To switch between views, press Ctrl+Shift+V in the editor. You can use Markdown in the following places: any pull request's descriptions or comments, or in README files (if they have the.md file extension). Use Control-Shift-P or Command-Shift-P to preview your markdown.

1. Md Markdown Table
2. Md File Formatting
3. Md Markdown New Line

Markdown is a lightweight markup language for adding formatting elements to plain text. IntelliJ IDEA recognizes Markdown files, provides a dedicated editor with highlighting, completion, and formatting, and shows the rendered HTML in a live preview pane.

Create a new Markdown file

By default, IntelliJ IDEA recognizes any file with the .md or .markdown extension as a Markdown file.

1. Right-click a directory in the Project tool window Alt+1 and select New | File.

   Alternatively, you can select the necessary directory, press Alt+Insert, and then select File.

2. Enter a name for your file with a recognized extension, for example: readme.md.

The Markdown editor provides several basic formatting actions in the toolbar:

1. Editor.md: a simple online markdown editor. 开源在线 Markdown 编辑器.
2. Filename patters:.md and.markdown Markdown is a lightweight markup language for adding formatting elements to plain text. IntelliJ IDEA recognizes Markdown files, provides a dedicated editor with highlighting, completion, and formatting, and shows the rendered HTML in a live preview pane. Create a new Markdown file.

• : Bold

• : Strikethrough

• : Italic

• : Code

• : Decrease heading level

• : Increase heading level

• : Convert an inline link to a reference link

You can use the preview pane to see the rendered HTML.

There is also completion for links to files in the current project, for example, if you need to reference source code, images, or other Markdown files.

Code blocks

To insert a fenced code block, use triple backticks (```) before and after the code block. If you specify the language for the code block, by default, the Markdown editor injects the corresponding language. This enables syntax highlighting and other coding assistance features for the specified language: code completion, inspections, and intention actions.

Disable coding assistance in code blocks

If your code blocks are not meant to be syntactically correct, you may want to disable code injection and syntax errors in code blocks.

1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Languages & Frameworks | Markdown.

2. Configure the following options:

   Disable automatic language injection in code fences	Do not inject any coding assistance for code blocks.
   Hide errors in code fences	Do not check the syntax for errors.

3. Click OK to apply the changes.

Diagrams

The Markdown editor can render diagrams defined with Mermaid and PlantUML. This is disabled by default and requires the corresponding Markdown extensions.

Enable diagram support

1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Languages & Frameworks | Markdown.

2. Enable either Mermaid or PlantUML under Markdown Extensions.

3. After IntelliJ IDEA downloads the relevant extensions, click OK to apply the changes.

HTML preview

By default, the Markdown editor shows a preview pane next to it for rendered HTML code based on the Markdown file. You can use or in the top right corner of the Markdown editor to show only the editor or the preview pane.

The scrollbars in the editor and in the preview pane are synchronized, meaning that the location in the preview pane corresponds to the location in the source. To disable this, click in the top right corner of the Markdown editor.

To split the editor and preview pane horizontally (top and bottom) instead of the default vertical split, in the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Languages & Frameworks | Markdown, and then select Split horizontally under Editor and Preview Panel Layout.

Custom CSS

IntelliJ IDEA provides default style sheets for rendering HTML in the preview pane. These style sheets were designed to be consistent with the default UI themes. You can configure specific CSS rules to make small presentation changes (for example, change the font size for headings or line spacing in lists) or you can provide an entirely new CSS to better match your expected output (for example, if you want to replicate the GitHub Markdown style).

1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Languages & Frameworks | Markdown.

2. Configure the settings under Custom CSS:

   • Select Load from URI to specify the location of a custom CSS file.

   • Select Add CSS rules rules to enter specific CSS rules that you want to override.

Reformat Markdown files

IntelliJ IDEA can format Markdown files with proper line wrappings, blank lines, and indentation. For more information, see Reformat and rearrange code.

• From the main menu, select Code | Reformat Code or press Ctrl+Alt+L.

IntelliJ IDEA formats the contents according to the code style settings for Markdown files.

Configure Markdown code style settings

• In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Editor | Code Style | Markdown.

Markdown code style settings include the following:

Configure the options for breaking lines.

Hard wrap at	Specify at which column to put a line break. IntelliJ IDEA shows a vertical line at the specified column and breaks lines between words, not within words.
Wrap on typing	Add line breaks as you type. Disable this option to add line breaks only when IntelliJ IDEA performs formatting.
Visual guides	Show an additional vertical line at the specified column.

Configure the options for nesting text blocks and alignment within a block.

Use tab character	Use the tab character for indentation. Disable this option to use spaces for indentation.
Smart tabs	Nest blocks with tabs and align with spaces. Disable this option to use only tabs and replace spaces that fit the specified tab size with tabs.
Tab size	Specify the number of spaces to render in place of one tab character.
Indent	Specify the number of spaces used for each indentation level.
Continuation indent	Specify the number of spaces used for continuing the same text block.
Keep indents on empty lines	Retain tabs and spaces on empty lines. By default, this option is disabled and IntelliJ IDEA removes tabs and spaces if there is nothing else on that line.

Set the maximum and minimum number of blank lines to keep for various text elements.

Around header	Before and after chapter headings.
Around block elements	Before and after code blocks.
Between paragraphs	Between two adjacent paragraphs.

Specify which elements should have exactly one space.

Between words	Remove extra spaces between words.
After header symbol	Remove extra spaces or add a missing space between the header symbol and the header title.
After list marker	Remove extra spaces or add a missing space between the list item marker and the list item text.
After blockquote marker	Remove extra spaces or add a missing space between the block quote marker and the text of the block quote.

Productivity tips

Customize highlighting for Markdown

IntelliJ IDEA highlights various Markdown elements according to the color scheme settings.

1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Editor | Color Scheme | Markdown.

2. Select the color scheme, accept the highlighting settings inherited from defaults, or customize them as described in Configuring colors and fonts.

Navigate in a large Markdown file

• Use the Structure tool window Alt+7 or the File Structure popup Ctrl+F12 to view and jump to the relevant headings.

Markdown does not have dedicated syntax for commenting out lines. However, it is possible to emulate a comment line using a link label without an address, like this:

There must be a blank line before the link label.

• Put the caret at the line that you want to comment out and press Ctrl+/.

  This will add a link label with the commented out text in parentheses and a blank line before it if necessary. Press the same shortcut to uncomment.

-->

Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2020 | Azure DevOps Server 2019 | TFS 2018 - TFS 2015

Important

To view the content available for your platform, make sure that you select the correct version of this article from the version selector which is located above the table of contents. Feature support differs depending on whether you are working from Azure DevOps Services or an on-premises version of Azure DevOps Server, renamed from Team Foundation Server (TFS).
To learn which on-premises version you are using, see What platform/version am I using?

Here you can find some basic Markdown syntax guidance and specific guidance for using Markdown in Azure DevOps features. You can use both common Markdown conventions and GitHub-flavored extensions.

Having the right guidance at the right time is critical to success. Use Markdown to add rich formatting, tables, and images to your project pages, README files, dashboards, and pull request comments.

For additional syntax that's supported for Wiki pages, see Wiki Markdown guidance.

You can provide guidance in the following areas using Markdown:

Note

Rich Markdown rendering in code repositories is supported for TFS 2018.2 and later versions. You can create rich README.md files in the code repositories. The Markdown rendering of the MD files in code repositories supports HTML tags, block quotes, emojis, image resizing, and mathematical formulas. There is parity in Markdown rendering in Wiki and MD files in code.

Note

With TFS 2017.1, welcome pages, the Markdown widget on team dashboards, and the Definition of Done on Kanban boards no longer supports file links in their Markdown. As a workaround, you can include your file link as text in the Markdown.

Important

Not all Markdown syntax is supported across all features. Each section in this article identifies the features the syntax is supported with the Supported in line.

Headers

Structure your comments using headers. Headers segment longer comments, making them easier to read.

Start a line with a hash character # to set a heading. Organize your remarks with subheadings by starting a line with additional hash characters, for example ####. Up to six levels of headings are supported.

Example:

Result:

Paragraphs and line breaks

Make your text easier to read by breaking it up with paragraphs or line breaks.

In pull request comments, select Enter to insert a line break, and begin text on a new line.

In a Markdown file or widget, enter two spaces before the line break to begin a new paragraph, or enter two consecutive line breaks to begin a new paragraph.

In pull request comments, select Enter to insert a line break, and begin text on a new line. In a Markdown file or widget, enter two spaces before the line break to begin a new paragraph, or enter two consecutive line breaks to begin a new paragraph.

In a Markdown file or widget, enter two spaces before the line break to begin a new paragraph, or enter two line breaks consecutively to begin a new paragraph.

Example - pull request comment:

Result:Add lines between your text with the Enter key.This spaces your text better and makes it easier to read.

Example - Markdown file or widget:

Result:
Add two spaces before the end of the line.

Space is added in between paragraphs.

Blockquotes

Quote previous comments or text to set the context for your comment or text.

Quote single lines of text with > before the text. Use many > characters to nest quoted text.Quote blocks of lines of text by using the same level of > across many lines.

Example:

Result:

Horizontal rules

To add a horizontal rule, add a line that's a series of dashes ---. The line above the line containing the --- must be blank.

Example:

Result:

above

below

Emphasis (bold, italics, strikethrough)

You can emphasize text by applying bold, italics, or strikethrough to characters:

• To apply italics: surround the text with an asterisk * or underscore _
• To apply bold: surround the text with double asterisks **.
• To apply strikethrough: surround the text with double tilde characters ~~.

Combine these elements to apply emphasis to text.

Note

There is no Markdown syntax that supports underlining text. Within a wiki page, you can use the HTML <u> tag to generate underlined text. For example, <u>underlined text</u> yields underlined text.

Note

There is no Markdown syntax that supports underlining text. Within a wiki page in TFS 2018.2 and later versions, you can use the HTML <u> tag to generate underlined text. For example, <u>underlined text</u> yields underlined text.

Note

There is no Markdown syntax that supports underlining text.

Example:

Result:

Use emphasis in comments to express strong opinions and point out corrections
Bold, italicized textBold, strike-through text

Highlight suggested code segments using code highlight blocks.To indicate a span of code, wrap it with three backtick quotes (```) on a new line at both the start and end of the block. To indicate code inline, wrap it with one backtick quote (`).

Note

Code highlighting entered within the Markdown widget renders code as plain preformatted text.

Example:

Result:

Example:

Result:

To install the Microsoft Cross Platform Build & Release Agent, run the following command: $ sudo npm install vsoagent-installer -g.

Within a Markdown file, text with four spaces at the beginning of the line automatically converts to a code block.

Set a language identifier for the code block to enable syntax highlighting for any of the supported languages in highlightjs, version v9.10.0.

Additional examples:

Tables

Organize structured data with tables. Tables are especially useful for describing function parameters, object methods, and other data that havea clear name to description mapping. You can format tables in pull requests, wiki, and Markdown files such as README files and Markdown widgets.

• Place each table row on its own line
• Separate table cells using the pipe character |
• The first two lines of a table set the column headers and the alignment of elements in the table
• Use colons (:) when dividing the header and body of tables to specify column alignment (left, center, right)
• To start a new line, use the HTML break tag (<br/>) (Works within a Wiki but not elsewhere)
• Make sure to end each row with a CR or LF.
• A blank space is required before and after work item or pull request (PR) mentions inside a table cell.

Example:

Result:

Heading 1	Heading 2	Heading 3
Cell A1	Cell A2	Cell A3
Cell B1	Cell B2	Cell B3 second line of text

Lists

Organize related items with lists. You can add ordered lists with numbers, or unordered lists with just bullets.

Ordered lists start with a number followed by a period for each list item. Unordered lists start with a -. Begin each list item on a new line. In a Markdown file or widget, enter two spaces before the line break to begin a new paragraph, or enter two line breaks consecutively to begin a new paragraph.

Ordered or numbered lists

Example:

Result:

1. First item.
2. Second item.
3. Third item.

Bullet lists

Example:

Result:

• Item 1
• Item 2
• Item 3

Nested lists

Example:

Result:

1. First item.
   • Item 1
   • Item 2
   • Item 3
2. Second item.
   • Nested item 1
   • Nested item 2
   • Nested item 3

Links

In pull request comments and wikis, HTTP and HTTPS URLs are automatically formatted as links. You can link to work items by entering the # key and a work item ID, and then choosing the work item from the list.

Avoid auto suggestions for work items by prefixing # with a backslash (). This action can be useful if you want to use # for color hex codes.

Md Markdown Table

In Markdown files and widgets, you can set text hyperlinks for your URL using the standard Markdown link syntax:

When linking to another Markdown page in the same Git or TFVC repository, the link target can be a relative path or an absolute path in the repository.

Supported links for Welcome pages:

• Relative path: [text to display](/target.md)
• Absolute path in Git: [text to display](/folder/target.md)
• Absolute path in TFVC: [text to display]($/project/folder/target.md)
• URL: [text to display](http://address.com)

Supported links for Markdown widget:

• URL: [text to display](http://address.com)

Supported links for Wiki:

• Absolute path of Wiki pages: [text to display](/parent-page/child-page)
• URL: [text to display](http://address.com)

Note

Links to documents on file shares using file:// aren't supported on 2017.1 and later versions. This restriction has been implemented for security purposes.

For information on how to specify relative links from a Welcome page or Markdown widget, see Source control relative links.

Example:

Result:

Source control relative links

Links to source control files are interpreted differently depending on whether you specify them in a Welcome page or a Markdown widget. The system interprets relative links as follows:

• Welcome page: relative to the root of the source control repository in which the welcome page exists
• Markdown widget: relative to the team project collection URL base

For example:

Welcome page	Markdown widget equivalent
/BuildTemplates/AzureContinuousDeploy.11.xaml	/DefaultCollection/Fabrikam Fiber/_versionControl#path=$/Tfvc Welcome/BuildTemplates/AzureContinuousDeploy.11.xaml
./page-2.md	/DefaultCollection/Fabrikam Fiber/_versionControl#path=$/Tfvc Welcome/page-2.md

Anchor links

Within Markdown files, anchor IDs are assigned to all headings when rendered as HTML. The ID is the heading text, with the spaces replaced by dashes (-) and all lower case. In general, the following conventions apply:

• Punctuation marks and leading white spaces within a file name are ignored
• Upper case letters are converted to lower
• Spaces between letters are converted to dashes (-).

Example:

Result:

The syntax for an anchor link to a section...

The ID is all lower case, and the link is case-sensitive, so be sure to use lower case, even though the heading itself uses upper case.

You can also reference headings within another Markdown file:

In wiki, you can also reference heading in another page:

Images

To highlight issues or make things more interesting, you can add images and animated GIFs to the following aspects in your pull requests:

• Comments
• Markdown files
• Wiki pages

Use the following syntax to add an image:

The text in the brackets describes the image being linked and the URL points to the image location.

Example:

Result:

The path to the image file can be a relative path or the absolute path in Git or TFVC, just like the path to another Markdown file in a link.

Md File Formatting

• Relative path: ![Image alt text](./image.png)

• Absolute path in Git: ![Image alt text](/media/markdown-guidance/image.png)

• Absolute path in TFVC: ![Image alt text]($/project/folder/media/markdown-guidance/image.png)

• Resize image: IMAGE_URL =WIDTHxHEIGHT

  Note

  Be sure to include a space before the equal sign.

  • Example: ![Image alt text]($/project/folder/media/markdown-guidance/image.png =500x250)
  • It's also possible to specify only the WIDTH by leaving out the HEIGHT value: IMAGE_URL =WIDTHx

Checklist or task list

Supported in: Pull Requests | Wikis

Lightweight task lists are great ways to track progress on a list of todos as a pull request creator or reviewer in the PR description or in a wiki page. Select the Markdown toolbar to get started or apply the format to selected text.

You can Use [ ] or [x] to support checklists. Precede the checklist with either -<space> or 1.<space> (any numeral).

Example - Apply the task list Markdown to a highlighted list

After you've added a task list, you can check the boxes to mark items as completed. These actions are expressed and stored within the comment as [ ] and [x] in Markdown.

Md Markdown New Line

Example - Format a list as a task list

Result:

Note

A checklist within a table cell isn't supported.

Supported in: Pull Requests | Wikis

In pull request comments and wiki pages, you can use emojis to add character and react to comments in the request. Enter what you're feeling surrounded by : characters to get a matching emoji in your text. The full set of emojis are supported.

Supported in: Pull Requests

In pull request comments, you can use emojis to add characters and react to comments in the request. Enter what you're feeling surrounded by : characters to get a matching emoji in your text. The full set of emojis are supported.

Example:

Result:

To escape emojis, enclose them using the ` character.

Example:

Result:

:smile::):angry:

Ignore or escape Markdown syntax to enter specific or literal characters

Syntax	Example/notes
To insert one of the following characters, prefix with a (backslash). , backslash `, backtick _, underscore {}, curly braces [], square brackets (), parentheses #, hash mark +, plus sign -, minus sign (hyphen) ., period !, exclamation mark *, asterisk	Some examples on inserting special characters: Enter to get Enter _ to get _ Enter # to get # Enter ( to get ( Enter . to get . Enter ! to get ! Enter * to get *

In pull request comments and wiki pages, you can attach files to illustrate your point or to give more detailed reasoning behind your suggestions. To attach a file, drag and drop it into the comment field or wiki page edit experience. You can also select the paperclip in the upper right of the comment box or the format pane in wiki page.

In pull request comments, you can attach files to illustrate your point or to give more detailed reasoning behind your suggestions. To attach a file, drag and drop it into the comment field. You can also select the paperclip in the upper right of the comment box.

Note

Attachments in pull requests is available with TFS 2017.1 and later versions.

If you have an image in your clipboard, you can paste it from the clipboard into the comment box or wiki page and it renders directly into your comment or wiki page.

Attaching non-image files creates a link to the file in your comment. Update the description text between the brackets to change the text displayed in the link.Attached image files render directly into your comment or wiki pages. After you save or update a comment or wiki page with an attachment, you can see the attached image and can select links to download attached files.

Attachments support the following file formats.

Type	File formats
Code	CS (.cs), Extensible Markup Language (.xml), JavaScript Object Notation (.json), Hypertext Markup Language(.html, .htm), Layer (.lyr), Windows PowerShell script (.ps1), Roshal Archive (.rar), Remote Desktop Connection (.rdp), Structured Query Language (.sql) - Note: Code attachments aren't permitted in PR comments
Compressed files	ZIP (.zip) and GZIP (.gz)
Documents	Markdown (.md), Microsoft Office Message (.msg), Microsoft Project (.mpp), Word (.doc and .docx), Excel (.xls, .xlsx and .csv), and Powerpoint (.ppt and .pptx), text files (.txt), and PDFs (.pdf)
Images	PNG (.png), GIF (.gif), JPEG (both .jpeg and .jpg), Icons (.ico)
Visio	VSD (.vsd and .vsdx)
Video	MOV (.mov), MP4 (.mp4)

Note

Not all file formats are supported within pull requests, such as Microsoft Office Message (.msg) files.

Mathematical notation and characters

Supported in: Pull Requests | Wikis

Both inline and block KaTeX notation is supported in wiki pages and pull requests. The following supported elements are included:

• Symbols
• Greek letters
• Mathematical operators
• Powers and indices
• Fractions and binomials
• Other KaTeX supported elements

To include mathematical notation, surround the mathematical notation with a $ sign, for inline, and $$ for block, as shown in the following examples:

Note

This feature is supported within Wiki pages and pull requests for TFS 2018.2 or later versions.

Example: Greek characters

Result:

Example: Algebraic notation

Result:

Example: Sums and Integrals

Result:

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