Notes fields are not rendered with markdown — only Secure Notes are

DaveyDave

With 1Password for Mac v7.0.7 there have been changes to my items with markdown tags. In all of my login items that use markdown in the notes field, markdown is now ignored, and the tags are displayed as text when I save the item. In my secure notes, using the code syntax results in red text on a red background with no border around the code. Previously it displayed as black text on a gray background with a black border.

When I reinstall v7.0, the text with markdown is displayed as originally formatted in both the notes field of the login items and all of my secure notes.

Has there been a change to how markdown works?

Thanks.

---

1Password Version: 7.0.7
Extension Version: 4.7.1
OS Version: macOS 10.13.5
Sync Type: 1Password.com

burrhall

I have just the same problem. My notes have reverter to looking just like I typed them. The Markdown formatting has not been applied.

I also note that the little comment that explains Markup at the end of the notes field has disappeared.

ngocphamm

Same here. They probably removed the support due to rendering performance issue, but forgot to put it the release note or something. Markdown in Secure Notes seems to be fine.

dfjg

Broken here too. Same version. ``` no longer works for pre-formatted text. Is this a bug or has the markdown syntax been changed?
I have gone back to 7.0.5 as it seems to be broken in 7.0.6 as well.

AGAlumB

@DaveyDave, @burrhall, @ngocphamm, @dfjg: Thanks for reaching out! Can you tell me what specifically on this list is not working for you in 1Password for Mac?

Format your secure notes with Markdown

I've got a bunch of notes that use Markdown and one with everything there which I use for testing, and I'm not seeing any that aren't working. We have made some changes to how Markdown is rendered for performance, but haven't removed support for any of the syntax on that list. Let me know what you find!

AGAlumB

For reference, this is what I'm seeing:

burrhall

Here are two screen shots
1) Creating a New Login in Edit Mode. The Markdown Guidance is not there

2) After Saving. No Formatting Applied

AGAlumB

@burrhall: Hmm. Are you experiencing this in Secure Notes? That's where Markdown is supported:

I'm not having any trouble there, unless there's something else I'm not accounting for.

a.jaffe

I am not seeing markdown correctly formatted either. I have the following in a notes field (not in a secure note -- if markdown is only supported in secure notes, this is a big change from previous 1P7 versions, and not a good one):

        ## Two-Factor backup codes

        ```
        OBFUSCATED
        CONTENT
        OBVIOUSLY
        ```

and I just see the raw input as above. I see the same behaviour everywhere else I try markdown.

Here's just about the simplest example I could create — note that ## test appears as such, rather than as a headline.

burrhall

We may be in to something here.
Up to 7.0.7 Markup was working fine in the Notes Field of many items. I’ve edited the notes in several hundred items to clean them up. As I mentioned also, there was just a little guidance on Markup just below the Notes field entry.
This all just stopped working in 7.0.7 and all my notes now show the unformatted markup.
I suspect the root issue is that 7.0.7 (accidentally?) turned off Markup support in normal items. 😢

AGAlumB

@a.jaffe: As I mentioned above (and referenced in the documentation and release notes), Markdown is supported for Secure Notes. We've had some inconsistency in Markdown rendering in earlier versions, and we can certainly consider supporting it in other item types as well. I don't think it's come up other than this discussion so far though.

a.jaffe

Please put back support for markdown in all "notes" fields! That is the only place I use it, and it was certainly supported in the 1P7 line until recently.

AGAlumB

@burrhall: Sorry for the confusion that caused. As far as I know, Markdown was only intended for Secure Notes. The "guidance" is there, but in Secure Notes, since that's where it's supported.

AGAlumB

@a.jaffe: Thanks for letting us know. I'll bring it up with the team.

ref: apple-1771

ngocphamm

If it was only intended for Secure Notes, at least please mention it when you guys removed it from the app with a release. It WORKED (in other entry types' notes) before in previous versions for 1P7. That was the reason I spent an hour moving separate Secure Notes to login items as I couldn't have a nicely formatted notes in login items before.

rlh

I think this thread highlights the absolute need for the ability to enable/disable Markdown on a per item basis. Either:

• A checkbox to enable Markdown in the notes field for any Item type, or
• Introduce a "Markdown note" or "rich notes" field type and then for any item I can select one or both kind of notes depending on my need.

For my use, I think the vast majority of my notes needs are plaintext. But I like that Markdown formatting is there. I do NOT like the fact that I can inadvertently put Markdown formatting in a note I intend to be plaintext and 1Password formats it!

I think the decision to put Markdown only in Secure Notes has some certain logic to it, but even in my "rarely use Markdown" case I'm not sure that I won't want some formatting in a notes field of a Login item someday...

AGAlumB

@ngocphamm: As I mentioned, I'll bring this up with the team. Thanks for your feedback on this.

AGAlumB

@rlh: I'd personally like that a lot, but you and I are just two among many that we need to consider. You make some good points. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. :)

a.jaffe

Just to be clear, there are three separate points:

1. Allowing markdown in “Notes” fields in addition to “Secure Notes” (the usefulness of which should made clear by the fact that I’m using Markdown right now).
2. The fact that this used to be a feature but the Release Notes didn’t explicitly mention the change.
3. The possibility of some sort of general markdown toggle and/or different fields some of which allow markdown and others of which don’t.

Number 2 should be addressed no matter what the response to 1 and 3 is!!

AGAlumB

@a.jaffe: From the release notes for 7.0, which I linked earlier:

• Secure notes are now rendered using Markdown.
  Make sure to check out your Secure Notes, which are now rendered in beautiful rich text using Markdown. {OPM-1099}

No one is disputing the usefulness of Markdown. But it's not intended to be used everywhere (neither by 1Password nor John Gruber ;) ). We're huge fans though, so it's certainly possible we'll add it in other places and/or make it more flexible. Thanks for letting us know your own personal preferences.

a.jaffe

Hi @brenty,

I think you're missing my point: the notes never mention that there was a change from supporting markdown in all Notes fields to only in Secure Notes.

Reading the 7.0 notes as-is, I could definitely believe that they just neglected to mention the fact that markdown did indeed work everywhere -- since that was the case. (Especially since -- I think -- this change happened after 7.0.0, so the notes were at best incomplete and misleading. Perhaps I am wrong about this, and there were no released version with markdown support in Notes fields, and only those of us on the beta programme ever saw it, but I don't think so.)

There absolutely should have been a note that said something like "In previous versions, markdown worked in Notes fields, as well, but because [include actual reason here!] notes are now just formatted as plain text."

And it would be interesting to know what that "actual reason" is...

AGAlumB

@a.jaffe: As far as I know, we never claimed to support all notes fields, so that doesn't make sense. We put a lot of effort into release notes, but there's a lot to fit there and we can't reasonably tell a story about every change (though I'm sure the devs would like to!) I apologize for any confusion that may have caused in this case, but the way forward is for us to evaluate your feedback just as we do everyone else's and go from there. Thanks.

a.jaffe

Hi @brenty,

Sorry to harp on this point: I don't know whether you claimed to support markdown in "Notes" fields. But you did support it in "Notes" fields, I promise you, certainly in the betas and I'm pretty sure in some 7.0.x versions. And it was a feature, intended or otherwise, that at least some users used (e.g., the people on this thread...)! So there was a change, and it was not mentioned in the release notes, when it should have been, since (in my opinion) they should be a record of all substantive user-visible changes.

steven1

With 1P7 is the first time I feel the AB team being a bit disingenous about features/etc.

While I don't miss the Markdown support in Notes fields in any item (Item scrolling is much faster without it), this was clearly there and even being discussed by the AB team. Just search the forums. I was even complaining it was making item scrolling slow!

Having functionality yanked from under the users, whether an official feature or not, and then gas lighting ("Look at the notes, was only in Secure Notes") the users leaves a bad feeling.....

I have a feeling a lot of these issues are related to a common Windozzze / Mac code base for the UI (Xamarin?). While this bring UX parity across the two platforms, it feels like Mac users are finally feeling the pain that Windows users have been moaning about for ages.

Hope it is a passing phase... :-)

Ben

There is a difference between “it unintentional happened due to a bug” and “we supported it.” :) This is a case of the former. That said, I can certainly see the value in having markdown support in regular notes fields, and will happily advocate for it when the discussion comes up.

I agree regarding the release notes.

Ben

DaveyDave

As far as I know, we never claimed to support all notes fields, so that doesn't make sense.

But this claim was made, so it does make sense:

When you edit a secure note or note field, use the syntax below to add style and structure to your note.

https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/87855/markdown-syntax-guide-for-1password-7-beta

Of course this was in reference to the beta version, but the posting also states:

The supported syntax is still being refined and may change before 1Password 7 is released, so please share your feedback as well as any formatting bugs you run into in the beta forum.

The feature was not removed before the 1Password 7 was released. In fact, it was available (and worked correctly) for the first several versions of 7.0.x. The feature was recently removed without notice and after many customers invested significant time modifying our data.

One of the most grievous things a technology company can do to their customers is to modify their data without their consent. You can technically say you did not "modify" the data because it is still present but rendering incorrectly. Imagine how you would feel, however, if your internet host decided to display all of the html tags on your website instead of using those tags for proper formatting. What if they rendered the text on your website in all caps despite how you designed the website? I SUSPECT YOU MAY FEEL THAT THEY MODIFIED YOUR DATA WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.

We put a lot of effort into release notes, but there's a lot to fit there and we can't reasonably tell a story about every change (though I'm sure the devs would like to!)

You have time to inject humour and your Harry Potter-esque titles into the release notes and blog posts. Significant changes such as this one deserve the same attention. Do you really believe it's not reasonable to mention a significant change your customers data?

I apologize for any confusion that may have caused in this case, but the way forward is for us to evaluate your feedback just as we do everyone else's and go from there.

This is a serious blunder. I suggest the way forward is to escalate this issue to your senior management for a proper resolution to this problem instead of excuses that seem to minimize customer concerns.

I can certainly see the value in having markdown support in regular notes fields, and will happily advocate for it when the discussion comes up.

"When the discussion comes up?" This is a matter of data integrity! You should bring this up for discussion promptly. Don't you have a magician, wizard or sorcerer who can take ownership and work their magic on this issue? I may be misunderstanding your intent, but the responses from 1Password Team Members seem to be making a bad situation worse.

I've long supported (and promoted) 1Password, but I regret renewing my subscription last month. AgileBits frequently reminds us that you don't prompt us for reviews because you respect us. Mistakes happen, but it's not respectful to minimize and deflect. It's even worse to not demonstrate that you are concerned about resolving them quickly. I think I'll consider posting one of those reviews you encourage. This issue will feature prominently.

I apologize for the sarcasm I included above. It is simply intended to get your attention because I don't get the impression that the issue is being taken seriously. It may be, but the staff responses don't demonstrate that clearly.

burrhall

brenty - thanks for your help in uncovering the roots of this

Ignoring all the other "documentation" bits and whether it was intended (or not) to have this functionality included in all "notes fields" or just in "secure notes"...

... and understanding that there might be other implications ( like scrolling performance ) that we users have no understanding of ...

Let me just say that I loved having the Markup functionality in the "notes fields" and would be absolutely delighted if you ( and the implementation team ) could find a way to support it.

So please could you pass on just one more vote for a full implementation.

Thanks

DaveyDave

Here's an example of what Dave Teare's blog post "1Password 7 for Mac: The Best Ever" would look if your web host made a similar mistake with your website and displayed your code syntax as text:

Your intended rendering is much better:

Ben

Thanks for the feedback, folks. :) You make some great points, however, having markdown formatting in the notes field had unintended consequences (and was itself a bit of an unintended consequence). We would like to bring it back, but there is some amount of work to do in order to do that without breaking other functionality. As such it is unlikely that this will be making a comeback in the immediate future. I’ll push for a higher priority on this, but I can’t promise it’ll happen.

Ben

ref: apple-1771

thightower

Came here looking for why my formatting was missing, and found myself reading this. :scream:

Its not ideal, by any stretch, however, I created a new note and linked it to the original item. And added a tag for markdown for good measure.

@Ben +1 for me,

I would like to add in the old buggy way it was working my scripts were displayed correctly in the formatting.
Now they appear, incoherently. *When viewed, however in edit mode they appear correctly.
edit: tried several different version of the syntax and all appear the same. At least its only one of the scripts I have, all the others appear correct. I can live with it.

AGAlumB

@thightower: Thanks for weighing in! Can you elaborate on your use case for storing formatted scripts? Do you mean for the command line or something else? What item type were you using for that previously?