Jira and Markdown
Jira has never used Markdown. It has wiki markup, a syntax of its own that predates Markdown and disagrees with it in the places that matter — one asterisk is bold, links use a pipe, code blocks use braces. The Cloud editor now converts Markdown as you type, which helps and is not the same thing.
Copy a Jira issue or page and paste it below
or
Select the content, copy, then paste
Converted in this tab. The file is never uploaded.
Two syntaxes, and which one you are in
Jira Cloud uses a rich editor that autoformats. Typing
## gives you a heading and consumes the characters; pasting
Markdown converts it as it lands. The stored page is rich content, so
nothing you get back out is Markdown.
Jira Server and Data Center, and several fields in Cloud,
accept wiki markup — the syntax below. If a text box
renders h1. as a heading, you are in wiki markup.
Wiki markup against Markdown
| Format | Jira wiki markup | Markdown |
|---|---|---|
| Heading | h1. Heading | # Heading |
| Bold | *bold* | **bold** |
| Italic | _italic_ | *italic* |
| Strikethrough | -struck- | ~~struck~~ |
| Monospace | {{code}} | `code` |
| Link | [text|https://url] | [text](https://url) |
| Bulleted list | * item | - item |
| Numbered list | # item | 1. item |
| Quote | bq. quoted | > quoted |
| Table header | ||A||B|| | | A | B | + dashes |
Two rows are worth staring at. # starts a
numbered list in wiki markup, not a heading. And one asterisk is
bold rather than italic — the same trap Slack has, failing the same silent
way.
Code blocks
{code:java}
System.out.println("hello");
{code}
{noformat}
plain text, no highlighting
{noformat}The language goes inside the braces rather than after a fence. In the Cloud editor, three backticks work and convert as you type, which is the easier route when you have the choice.
Tables
||Heading||Heading||
|cell|cell|
|cell|cell|Double pipes for the header row, single for the body, no separator row. There is no alignment syntax.
In Cloud, pasting a Markdown table converts it into a real Jira table, which is faster than typing this by hand — build it in the table generator and paste the result.
Quotes and panels
bq. A single quoted line.
{quote}
A quote spanning
several lines.
{quote}
{panel:title=Note}
A callout with a border.
{panel} bq. quotes one line; {quote} wraps
many. Panels have no Markdown equivalent at all and degrade to plain
paragraphs when converted out.
Getting content out as Markdown
Copy the rendered issue or page and paste it into the converter above. The
clipboard carries an HTML version alongside the plain text, and that is
what gets converted — so headings stay headings instead of becoming a wall
of lines beginning with h1..
What does not survive: panels, status lozenges, macros and issue links become their text content, because Markdown has nothing to map them to. Tables, headings, lists, code blocks and links all come across cleanly.
Common questions
- Does Jira support Markdown?
- Partly, and not as a storage format. The Jira Cloud editor converts Markdown as you type — ## and a space becomes a heading — but the page is stored as rich content afterwards. Jira Server and Data Center use wiki markup instead, which is a different syntax that predates Markdown.
- What is Jira wiki markup?
- Atlassian's own syntax: h1. for a heading, *bold* with one asterisk, {code} for a code block, and [text|url] for a link. It is still what description fields and older instances accept, and it is why Markdown pasted into Jira sometimes comes out mangled.
- How do I make a code block in Jira?
- Three backticks work in the Cloud editor, converting as you type. In wiki markup it is {code:java} … {code}, or {noformat} for text with no highlighting. The language goes in the braces rather than after the fence.
- How do I make a table in Jira?
- Wiki markup uses || for header cells and | for body cells, all on one line per row. The Cloud editor also accepts a pasted Markdown table and converts it, which is usually faster than typing pipes by hand.
- How do I convert a Jira page to Markdown?
- Copy the rendered content and paste it into the converter above. The clipboard carries HTML, so headings, lists and tables survive as Markdown rather than arriving as flattened text.
- Why does my bold text come out italic?
- Because one asterisk is bold in wiki markup and italic in Markdown. It is the same trap Slack has, in the same direction, and it fails silently — the text still formats, just not the way you meant.