I love Markdown. I love it so much that I completely forgot about it after using it for a project.
Snark aside, bulletin boards and old forum software used markdown exclusively for posts in the early 00s. But this isn’t just old tech.
I forgot about it until I decided to give Trello a whirl. Trello is an online project management application that focuses on laying out the information in complete view. It’s an exciting take on collaboration and productivity.
And to be clear, I really do love Markdown!
Table of Contents
How Text is Formatted in Your Trello Cards
Trello uses a modified version of the simple language used to format plaintext called Markdown.
Using Markdown syntax, you can add formatting to plaintext such as lists, paragraphs, headers, and more, just like you can with HTML text. It’s a pretty neat little project.
You can read more about Markdown at Daring Fireball.
Compatibility for Basic Markdown Syntax
Where it Works
- Your Trello bio
- Checklists
- Comments
- Card description
Where it Doesn’t Work
- Card titles
- Some issues in displaying some syntax in the Trello mobile app
More Details on Trello Basic Markdown Compatibility
| Type | Your Trello Bio | Checklist | Comments | Card Description |
| Bold | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Italics | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Strikethrough | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inline code | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Links | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Horizontal line | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Code block | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Block quotes | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lists | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Headers | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Embedded images | – | – | – | ✓ |
Trello Basic Markdown Examples
| Type | Syntax | Example Usage | Example Result | Notes |
| Bold | ** | Example **bold** | Example bold | |
| Italics | _ | Example _italic_ | Example italic | You can also use single asterisks |
| Strikethrough | ~~ | Example ~~strikethrough~~ | Example | Cross out text |
| Inline code | ` | Example `code` | Example code | Inline formatted code |
| Links | []() | [Davis Tech Media](https://davistechmedia.com) | Davis Tech Media | Link text and URL |
| Horizontal line | ‐‐‐ | ‐‐‐ | Add space in between text; otherwise, this is an H2 | |
| Code block | “` | “` test 1 test 2 “` | test 1 test 2 | Think of this as <pre> formatting |
| Block quotes | > | >test1 >test2 |
| Space after greater than or not |
| Unordered lists | – | – test 1 – test 2 |
| Must have space after the hyphen and space between lines |
| Ordered lists | 1. | 1. test 1 2. test 2 |
| Must have period and space after number and space between lines |
| Headers | # | ###Header 3 Example | Header 3 Example | # per header level |
| Embedded images | ![]() |  |  | Alt text and image path |
Wrap Up
Another good Markdown resource is Markdown Guide. They are a free and open-source reference guide on how to use Markdown.
It lays everything out in a super easy to read and easy to understand manner. I dig it.
