The Portal brings the power of the Markdown markup language when replying to tickets, which creates a much richer experience facilitating the understanding and clarity of the messages exchanged between us.

Markdown uses plain text formatting syntax, and it became one of the most commonly used syntaxes for text production due to its simplicity and versatility.

It has a smooth learning curve, and this article tries to show a summary of the options for using Markdown when replying to tickets on the Portal.

It is worth mentioning that there are different flavors of Markdown syntax and more than one way to achieve the same result. Because of that, please, try to follow the syntax described in this document to avoid any possible issue.

Markdown is embedded on the Portal, which is probably not true for your e-mail client application. This means it is much more interesting to interact with tickets directly through the Portal than relying on your e-mail client application, which will only show the raw Markdown text without respecting its formatting.

Besides reading tickets through the Portal, it is also possible to prepare and send replies through it as well. The reply interface on the Portal presents a toolbar with many options, including a Preview button, allowing you to check how your reply will look like before sending it.

Every example listed below presents first the raw Markdown block, followed by how this block will be shown in the Portal.

On the examples used here, the symbol ⋅ represents a space.

For italics, simply add one asterisk (`*`) around the *word*. It works *for multiple words as well*.

Bold is obtained by surrounding the **words** or **group of words** with 2 asterisks.

Applying more than one effect at the same time works, like ***bold and italic together*** for example.

And use backticks (grave accent) for `monospaced` fonts.

For italics, simply add one asterisk (*) around the word. It works for multiple words as well.

Bold is obtained by surrounding the words or group of words with 2 asterisks.

Applying more than one effect at the same time works, like bold and italic together for example.

And use backticks (grave accent) for monospaced fonts.

In order to have a line break in a paragraph you have to add 2 trailing spaces (`⋅⋅`) in the place where you want the line to break.
This paragraph here, for example, will be seen as one only long line, as 2 trailing spaces weren't included anywhere.

As a correct example, in this paragraph the 2 trailing spaces are introduced here⋅⋅
which produces a line break.

You can also add an empty line to separate paragraphs, as done in these examples.

In order to have a line break in a paragraph you have to add 2 trailing spaces (⋅⋅) in the place you want the line to break. This paragraph here, for example, will be seen as one only long line, as 2 trailing spaces weren't included anywhere.

As a correct example, in this paragraph the 2 trailing spaces are introduced here which produces a line break.

You can also add an empty line to separate paragraphs, as done in these examples.

> Blockquotes are an interesting way to add an already replied text in your new message.⋅⋅ 
> Just add a "greater than" caret (`>`) at the beginning of the line.

Now you can write your new reply, making it clear that you are referring to the quoted text above.⋅⋅ 
Note that an empty line was added after the blockquote in order to break it, so this paragraph isn't considered part of the previous blockquote.

> If you want to quote a long sequence of paragraphs, make sure to add⋅⋅ 
> the "greater than" caret (`>`) at the beginning of each line.
>
> And, most importantly, add a caret also on the empty lines in between⋅⋅ 
> the paragraphs, as the example here shows.

Blockquotes are an interesting way to add an already replied text in your new message. Just add a "greater than" caret (>) at the beginning of the line.

Now you can write your new reply, making it clear that you are referring to the quoted text above. Note that an empty line was added after the blockquote in order to break it, so this paragraph isn't considered part of the previous blockquote.

If you want to quote a long sequence of paragraphs, make sure to add the "greater than" caret (>) at the beginning of each line.

And, most importantly, add a caret also on the empty lines in between the paragraphs, as the example here shows.

Inserting inline code is achievable by simply as adding monospaced text, surrounded with backticks (` `).

Similarly, whole blocks of code, can be surrounded by triple backticks (``` ```).

It's also possible to highlight the code accordingly to the syntax used by adding the name of the language at the end of the first three backticks.

``` A normal code block without syntax highlighting ```

```bash cd $PGDATA ls pg_xlog | wc -l ```

```sql SELECT 'Hello, world!'; ```

```python x = "Hello, world!" print x ```

A normal code block
without syntax highlighting

cd $PGDATA
ls pg_xlog | wc -l

SELECT 'Hello, world!';

x = "Hello, world!"
print x

The levels of headers and sub-headers are indicated with the hash mark (#), increasing its number according to its level.

IMPORTANT: When you use a header in the portal, always start with level 1 (one hash mark #).

# Header level 1 (title)
## Header level 2 (subheader)
### Header level 3 (subheader)
#### Header level 4 (subheader)

You can use numbers to have ordered lists. The actual number doesn't matter, just that it is a number, any number.

For unordered lists you can use *, -, or +.

For a subsequent item in the list (a sub-list item) add at least 1 more extra space (⋅) than the preceding item.

**An example of ordered list**

1. First ordered list item
2. Second ordered list item
⋅* An unordered sub-list item. Note the 1 extra space on the beginning of the line.
1. A third ordered list item. Note how the actual number used doesn't matter.
⋅1. A first ordered sub-list item. Also 1 extra spaces on the beginning of the line.
⋅1. A second ordered sub-list item. Again, the actual number doesn't matter.
4. The forth and last ordered item in this list.

⋅To have a paragraph aligned under an item of a list, just include an empty⋅⋅
line after the list item and 1 space (at least) at the beginning of the new line.

**An example of unordered list**

* An unordered list item
- Another unordered list item
+ The last unordered item in this list

An example of ordered list

1. First ordered list item
2. Second ordered list item

• An unordered sub-list item. Note the 1 extra space on the beginning of the line.

1. A third ordered list item. Note how the actual number used doesn't matter.
2. A first ordered sub-list item. Also 1 extra spaces on the beginning of the line.
3. A second ordered sub-list item. Again, the actual number doesn't matter.
4. The forth and last ordered item in this list.

To have a paragraph aligned under an item of a list, just include an empty line after the list item and 1 space (at least) at the beginning of the new line.

An example of unordered list

• An unordered list item

• Another unordered list item

• The last unordered item in this list

For inline links insert the link text between brackets [ ] and the actual link between parenthesis ( ).

You can insert a direct link to the [Portal](https://techsupport.enterprisedb.com) using this method.

You can insert a direct link to the Portal using this method.

To add images in your reply you can use the same syntax used for inserting links, only adding an exclamation mark (!) before the text brackets.

You can add the face of our lovely Slonik ![Slonik](https://wiki.postgresql.org/images/3/30/PostgreSQL_logo.3colors.120x120.png) simply like that.

You can add the face of our lovely Slonik simply like that.

IMPORTANT: Use images with care and only if necessary, as they can create issues with layout.