Jira Import – HTML Formatting in Description Field

[Akshad Katke]

Hi Atlassian Community,

I am currently working on a Jira migration and need to import issues from an Excel/CSV file into Jira.

The Description field in the source data contains content in HTML format. During the import, Jira is treating the HTML tags as plain text instead of rendering/converting the content into the appropriate Jira description formatting.

For example, the imported description contains HTML such as:

<p>Sample description</p>
<strong>Important:</strong> Please review this.

After importing, Jira displays the HTML tags directly instead of displaying the formatted content.

I would like to know:

1. Is there a supported way to import HTML-formatted descriptions into Jira while preserving the formatting?
2. Can Jira automatically convert HTML content into the Jira ADF (Atlassian Document Format) or another supported description format during import?
3. Is there a recommended approach, migration tool, or REST API method to convert the HTML content before importing?
4. Are there any Jira Cloud import limitations or specific formatting requirements that need to be considered?

Any guidance or recommended approach would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[John Funk]

Hi Akshad,

Take a look at this documentation for the Jira Markup language - it don't not use straight HTML. 

https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/WikiRendererHelpAction.jspa?section=all&permissionViolation=true&page_caps=&user_role=USER