**actual** markdown support
The current markdown implementation is simply bad as it's not actual markdown. Instead it's some kind of in-line format guesser that changes what you type on enter.
- it doesn't work in the client
- it doesn't apply to messages submitted via webhook integrations
- it doesn't work on cut-n-pasted text
- it's not complete (tons of markdown syntax missing)
- it doesn't allow simple shortcuts via "/extension" (looking at you, /giphy)
in-line reformatting is slow and often unpredictable in the way it responds as you type, making for a poor experience, especially as you attempt to reformat a message you started typing.
Remember Teams has risen as a response to Slack, which is a collaboration of developers first. A lack of solid markdown is simply alienating the very group that made this tool popular ... which is short sighted. Teams should be fast from the keyboard, predictable in what it outputs ... and basically comfortable. The current markdown mess fails on all these fronts.
46 comments
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Marlon
commented
I can routinely "out type" the inline editor, meaning I type too fast for the editor to recognize the markdown syntax and it just fails to render after sending.
What a garbage user experience for technical people.
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An Angry Ape
commented
After this ticket has been ignored for so many months, I concluded that the best way to use MS Teams to transfer technical message is by writing them on Slack (where Markdown is properly supported) and then tell everyone in MS Teams to migrate over there.
Also, it's clearer than ever that no competent developers from MS actually use this piece of junk software
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Eskild Diderichsen
commented
Either completely remove the WYSIWYG editor, or give us an option to disable it and only use markdown for formatting.
Currently writing "technical" messages is a PAIN.
Currently editing "technical" messages is BROKEN! It easier to delete the message and start over! It's beyond bad! -
Michael Fish
commented
As a masochist I enjoy checking back every so often to see this ticket is still being ignored.
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Nicholas
commented
I support this idea but I think the solution is to create a new "Markdown Wiki" app and not to support markdown in the current wiki. What I really want is the code-block with code syntax highlighting, latex/math and the mermaid charting language (After posting this I am going to see if there is an issue open for these things).
For one thing, Markdown has no concept of coloured text (unless the style tag is supported). I can see how that may not be popular with everyone. Also markdown tables are hard work. It's hard to argue tables are better in markdown. However I do prefer controlling my own headings in markdown. I don't like how the wiki pages are segmented into different inputs at each major heading.
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Anthony
commented
I have to agree here, especially with the other Anthony. To model how markdown should work, simply *make it work like it does in slack*. I can't for the life of me figure out how ``` is supposed to work, in teams sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. When I edit an existing message, it doesn't seem to reformat. When I do get a ``` code block to work, I can't add text *after* it.
This all works perfectly in Slack.
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Paul
commented
When using ``` to do a blockquote/code paste, it forces the pasted text into a non-wrapping line with a horizontal scrollbar. It's like Microsoft doesn't even test this stuff before they call it "completed".
Also, you can't "end" the ``` with another ```, you have to hit enter twice, which is counter-intuitive for inline editing.
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yobananaboy
commented
Maybe at least make it an option in the settings to allow pure Markdown? That way those who use the wysiwig can do so, and those of us that want markdown only can use it. I get so frustrated that I can't escape a code format with ``` every day.
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kmcginnes
commented
I see what you are going for. You want a WYSIWYG editor that also supports some of the syntax of Markdown. But these ideas are fundamentally opposed to each other.
Markdown was created as a rebuke of WYSIWYG editors for many reasons, but the one that resonates with me is that formatting text after the fact is tedious. It's much easier to indicate the formatting as you type and let the computer figure out rendering later.
But a WYSIWYG editor does not allow for Markdown syntax to exist in the editor, since that is not what the rendered output would look like. If the editor does not match the rendered output you can not have a WYSIWYG editor.
So you've tried to split the difference. But the result is neither truly WYSIWYG nor truly Markdown. The editor rendering is very similar to the final rendered result, but there are plenty of differences that mean this is not a WYSIWYG editor. And once the markdown syntax is deleted you are not using markdown any more.
And while we're talking about editors, no text editor in any form should ever automatically delete characters as you type. However, this is how MS Teams "markdown" support works. If you type an asterisk, then a character, then an asterisk the application will delete the asterisks that the user typed. This, in my opinion, is user hostile.
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An Angry Ape
commented
Please for the love of god and the sanity of all your users, implement this
P/S: I strongly suspect that all internal engineers at Microsoft use something way more decent than MS Teams. And the only people working on this are the sales team. That's why no actual features were even properly implemented
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Jak O
commented
By far the most annoying thing about Teams is this horrific text input. Please, just give us real markdown support. I do not want my text formatted as I type and especially not given how infuriatingly buggy and slow it is at the moment. Entering even some very basic snippet of code or formatted text can trap you going back and forth trying to correct the formatting or just trying to simply escape it. Typing should be your top priority for creating a stress free, quick and performant experience. Whatever this is right now just causes so much anger as people scramble to type out even relatively simple messages with basic formatting.
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Anonymous
commented
The pseudo-markdown editor is buggy and unusable. Any sane developer would think twice before pasting a code snippet inside a quote. Sometimes I get into a stuck state and I can not get out of bullets or quotes or code snippets.
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Maksis
commented
The editor is one of the most annoying things about the Teams. I understand you might want to keep the rich text editor for integrating with the Office and 3rd party apps but please give the option to choose between this WYSIWYG monstrosity and simpler editor with markdown post-processing for those who prefer the simple life. Both can coexist.
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Keegan van der Laag
commented
It's 2021. If you can't commit to a usable WYSIWYG experience that is consistent across all platforms, why not just use markdown *for real*, since it doesn't rely on device-specific editors? If you're going to spend a bunch of money pushing our employers to use Teams instead of Slack, please back it up with feature parity so you're not actively making our lives more frustrating.
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Anonymous
commented
I agree this makes MS teams difficult to use. Please consider implementing this.
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Anonymous
commented
This reminds me of when Microsoft engineers thought it was a good idea to not follow WC3 standards with Internet Explorer, Look where that led them..
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Anonymous
commented
STOP CHANGING THE TEXT I'M ENTERING (cit.) unless I explicitly choose to use markdown. A working markdown of course!
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lululombard
commented
Microsoft, please support this. Slack does it! Why not MS Team? Our engineering team just wants to go away from Teams because of stuff like this. Anyone that is not an engineer doesn't care and we can't change, so please, at least implement this. Right now I would not recommend Teams to anyone.
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ARambazamba
commented
100% agree with Kris Mackintosh ... Just take the md editor from vs code and integrate the Markdown Shortcuts Extension 🤪
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peteroh
commented
Seems like the teams arent talking to another. Adaptive cards team makes good use of markdown and promotes cards as a near universal approach. The designer/emulator allows markdown and use of images and links etc but when they show in the teams client no luck. Adaptive cards is working better in slack than in teams. Own goal!