Formatting lost when editing Description after using new Create Screen

[Diana McKeever]

I'm having an issue with formatting being removed / lost from the description field if you edit it after initial creation with the new JIRA create screen. It's taking everything out including including line breaks and any shortcuts used for bold, italics, list, etc. 

As a workaround I previously had everyone use the old create screen (as it did not happen with that screen), but now that it is deprecated I'm having to tell people to add the description after the JIRA is created instead which is extremely frustrating an inefficient. 

Is anyone else experiencing this? I searched for open bugs but haven't seen anything related except for an old closed one (JSWCLOUD-17522)

[Marton Lipcsik]

Hi All

I also had this problem in Jira Cloud, here is the solution which worked for me on 27/08/2024. Please note, that Jira Cloud is continuously changing, so the steps you need to make might be different after a time.

Important:

You cannot fix the existing Jira tickets Description field formatting loose with the steps below! Only new Jira tickets - created after you change the settings - Description field formatting will not change when you update the Description field content.

Solution: you need to change Description field renderer from "Default text renderer" to "WIKI Style renderer"

The renderer change has two effects:

1. You can use the formatting options in the Description field already when you create a new Jira ticket. So far you could use the formatting options only when you updated Description field of existing Jira ticket.
2. You can manually write multiline text into Description field or copy formatted text from external resource (linux terminal log, JSON/XML content) into Description field. Once you will update Description field later, the formatting will NOT loose. 

Steps to Change Field Renderer

1. Log in to Jira:
   Ensure you are logged in as a user with the Administer Jira global permission.
2. Navigate to Field Configurations:
   • Go to Issues in the main menu.
   • Under FIELDS, select Field Configurations.
3. Select the Appropriate Field Configuration:
   • Locate the field configuration you want to modify. Click on the Configure link next to it.
4. Find the Field to Change:
   • In the View Field Configuration page, look for the field you want to change the renderer for. This could be a custom field or a system field like Description or Comment.
5. Change the Renderer:
   • In the Actions column next to the field, click on the Render option (or it may be labeled as Edit).
   • You will see a list of available renderers. Select the desired renderer (e.g., Wiki Style Renderer or Default Text Renderer).
6. Save Changes:
   • After selecting the new renderer, click on the Update button to save your changes.

[Marton Lipcsik]

This problem still exists and it's really annoying. Yes, the only relevant Jira bug ticket (closed in 2019) is https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWCLOUD-17522 

Did anyone find avoiding solution for this?
It cause so much extra effort to reformatting description field each time you update the content.

Also strange, that there is no other open issue for this problem, seems like it should work for other customers and the problem exists only for us.

[Laura Pitkänen]

I have this problem, and it's driving me crazy! Bullets just turned into asterisks, coloring doesn't work, and trying to add new bullets indents everything in the Description field. So no, you're not alone.

[John Funk]

Hi @Diana McKeever  - Did you ever get a solution on this? 

[Diana McKeever]

Nope, it still happens every time so I've just told my team to NEVER enter a description in the create screen.

[John Funk]

Well, I would report it again as a bug. It might be this same thing has regressed back into production. 

And is it just the Description field? Or is it any paragraph (multiline text) field that has wiki-style renderers? 

[Elior Odinak]

I can confirm it's any paragraph (multiline text) field that has wiki style renderers.