How to switch between 'Visual' and 'Text' mode of Issue description in Jira cloud?

Deleted user February 20, 2019

Issues in my project, when viewed full-screen mode, show all the wiki markup syntax when you put the issue description in edit-mode. On Jira server you used to be able to switch between 'Visual' and 'Text' modes to hide/show the markup.

This however doesn't occur when putting the description of an issue in edit mode, when viewing the issue in the side panel on a Board.

Any ideas?

12 answers

52 votes
dmitry.popov January 20, 2020

That is really disgusting that I can not use the markup instead of the visual editor in Jira Cloud.
For example, I cannot set a non-standard text color (i.e. apart from those colors that are present in the color-selector), which is critical when describing, for example, the css styles.

Please return the text editor! That was perfectly working for years (at least for local Jira installations).

Mikołaj May 29, 2023

It's not a total disaster since it's possible to use Markdown and you can choose the language for the code block.
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/markdown-and-keyboard-shortcuts/

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William L Harms July 10, 2023

The ability to communicate effectively is the reason why Jira is a good product.  When you limit that ability, the product is damaged, devalued.  I feel that I've lost at least an hour a week fiddling with the buttons to get the same content pre migration.  

I can use markdown and formatting in plain text with bugzilla.. 

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33 votes
Timo Toivonen September 8, 2021

Please bring back the text-edit view. It is the most useful feature.

Gabriel Straub November 15, 2022

Agree!

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12 votes
Joe Matazzoni July 21, 2021

If Jira is going to hide the text-edit view, please Atlassian folks, fix your editing bar so that it floats with the window as the user scrolls down. When I write a long ticket, I now have to scroll ALL the way up to the top to do something like change color or apply a heading level.

That is a very bad UX

10 votes
Laurentiu Ionescu September 28, 2022

Yes, I really need the markup language back.
You shouldn't expect a developer to spend a lot of time in WYSIWYG editor, this is shitty.

I used to generate some of the comments from code, also tables and jira accepted markup language, now everything takes a lot of time to put some good info in comments and stories.

 

Not a very great move.

Michael Lutz
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December 5, 2023

Same here, upgrade to the cloud slowed down my speed in creation of tickets :-( 

As many others I can just kindly ask you to bring such a useful mode back!

Like Lyndon Armitage likes this
Lyndon Armitage December 15, 2023

What is even the point in this page https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/WikiRendererHelpAction.jspa?section=all if you can't actually use the markup anywhere? Why keep outdated, unusable documentation around? Just to confuse your users?

There's literally no option from what I can see to use markup. And there's no option to produce tables in a Jira ticket beyond slowly doing it by hand, which is not only error prone but a complete waste of time when you could generate them in a matter of seconds and copy and paste them. 

Giving no option other than a WYSIWYG editor is crazy and dumb, it reeks of some poor decision making. You don't even need to have a toggle, just some CLEAR way of allowing someone to insert raw Jira Markup, that is supported according to Jira's own documentation.

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Michelle Brügger
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March 5, 2024

even worse... don't know why, but when I use *xxx* in OUR jira-tickets the text goes italic and not bold... and yes _xxx_ formats text still italic

Since I had loads of times problems with the wsywyg-editor when pasting something from a darkmode-site into the ticket, I often used the text-only instead of the visual. Same with thumbnails where I could adjust the size of a placed picture in the text-editor, which is not possible in de visual one. 

Too bad, we can't switch anymore 8-/ And if anyone finds out what the new markdown for bold is... let me know (yes, I know I can use shortcut cmd+b)

7 votes
Bram October 13, 2022

Three years later, and we're still stuck with this crap editor. So far I haven't found a single thing that Jira Cloud does better than Jira Server. It's one giant regression.

Even something as simple as editing text is beyond Atlassian ...

6 votes
Garett Goodale May 25, 2023

Please add the text editor to Jira Cloud. Consider the fact that Jira is largely used by software developers who are much faster at typing markup than clicking between functions in the UI. I suspect nothing will happen since this has been up for a while but maybe if we keep commenting it will someday get added back. 

adam.edell July 27, 2023

agreed. Please bring it back. Years of practice at editing Jiras in text editor to make better looking descriptions is now made much harder with only WYSIWYG.

Like Blucker_ Erik P likes this
5 votes
Felippe January 1, 2023

Please bring back the text editor for Jira Cloud.  

adam.edell July 27, 2023

Yes, please

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2 votes
Michael Lutz
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December 5, 2023

Due to upgrading to the Jira cloud version and the lack of text edit mode, entering ticket templates via text insertion tool (macOS inbuilt) is not practical any more. As a result the ticket creation workflow is more complicated now and requires more time :-(

Things like tables and formating of headlines cannot be preserved in templates and have to be copy pasted from other tickets (takes more time) or manually inserted (takes yet more time).

Taking out the edit mode is a real downgrade. I would appreciate it very much if you could bring it back.

2 votes
Alexey Matveev
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February 20, 2019

Hello,

Do you mean that you do not have the Visual and Text options in Jira Cloud? If so, then it is the correct behaviour. You use the old issue view. You should use the new issue view.

Deleted user February 21, 2019

Hello, I wanted to know how you switch between Visual and Text in Jira Cloud, not if it behaves the same as the server version.

My problem is that when I go to edit a description, the text is all marked up (wiki markup), and there is no option to hide the markup and show the formatted version.

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Alexey Matveev
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February 21, 2019

You can not switch between Visual and Text in Cloud. Cloud behaves differently from Server.

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Deleted user February 21, 2019

So how do I 'hide' the wiki markup then? Do I have to apply a different view or something?

Alexey Matveev
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February 22, 2019

You need to use the New Issue View. You will not be able to see the markup codes there. The New Issue View is set by default:

New Issue view is available from boards:

Screenshot 2019-02-22 at 12.12.45.png

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Deleted user March 3, 2019

Thanks @Alexey Matveev  can the 'new issue view' be applied to issues when they are not viewed from a board?

Like oFaraday likes this
Deleted user March 3, 2019

Here is an example:

Description field in view mode:

view_mode.PNG

Description field in edit mode:

edit_mode.PNG

As you can see, when the Description field is in edit mode, the markup syntax is shown.

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Alexey Matveev
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March 3, 2019

You can not switch the new Issue View on, where the old issue view is shown. 

Deleted user March 6, 2019

Yeah so I've confirmed that I'm using a 'classic' project, which would explain why the New Issue view isn't on. So why does the description field show markup when in full screen mode, and not when viewing an issue on a board?

Alexey Matveev
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March 6, 2019

When you view on the board, you use the New Issue View

Deleted user March 6, 2019

Ok so there’s  no way to hide/turn off the markup (so it renders like the new issue view) when viewing an issue in full screen mode for a classic project?

Tiffany Stull November 9, 2021

The WYSIWYG editor does NOT provide the same amount of control that editing in Jira markup allows.  For example, if I want to create a numbered list with a bulleted sub-list, that can only be done via markup.  This capability is essential when I'm creating a list of testing steps that also includes multiple selections beneath a step.  Example:


# Select the link to this page.
# Select the following checkboxes:
** Item 1
** Item 2

I'm able to create new jiras in Jira cloud with markup.  Why can't I edit existing jira descriptions or other fields using markup?

If Atlassian is removing the markup editing capability, the WYSIWYG editor needs to be improved so it will support all functionality that exists when writing descriptions using markup.

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Ian Wermerling November 10, 2021

I have the opposite frustration because I like the WYSIWYG view for some of my stakeholders, but they have to see their content in markup when they first create the ticket.

Consistency between create and view would be good, as well as the option to use either WYSIWYG or markup on both you be good to see to.

btw I'm using cloud.

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Manabu Tokunaga January 26, 2022

I would also like the "New Issue" Editor to be *not* stuck in Markup. I use Markup in README.MD but for a good chunk of non-coders like PMs and CEOs that won't go over very well.  Personally, also for quick edits of an issue, it's better not to be Markup.

Gabriel August 10, 2022

There are quite some folks out here, which work way more efficient with markup-style. I understand that not everyone likes it. So no need to use it. But please, please, please, bring it back for those who are used to it and can (better) work with it!

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Mikołaj December 16, 2022

@Manabu TokunagaThat's fine, but nobody forces you to use markup editor, right?

1 vote
David Kozisek December 5, 2023

Please bring this back, it's the ultimate power user tool when making a lot of tickets. If you aren't going to do it, please offer a reason.

1 vote
Ben Ernest-Jones August 9, 2023

Agreed with everyone. Vote for it on https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-73906

0 votes
s_kudal April 21, 2022

Hello All,

I've a question about "Custom Fields". I want a field just like "Description" which has format panel on the top side. But there is only "Text Field" which I can add. But this is not just like "Description" field. Its is only an empty free-text field. There is no any formatting panel (which allows us to change the style and widht of the writings)... Is there any alternative way to do so?

 

Thank you 

kanglong_ma July 12, 2022

Hi, you can edit the Renderer of the "Custom FIeld" in the "Field Configuration" page, find your field and change its Renderer to Wiki Style Renderer.

Warren Goldman (SDG Contractor) August 24, 2022

edit mode does not show the text view for the description field, like it does here (I typed an asterisk/star then hello). In edit mode (double click on description) the below shows as a bullet with hello

* hello

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