With Markdown, you can add structure and emphasis to your Agency…

Using Markdown

Markdown is a markup language that lets you format text using simple keyboard symbols, like asterisks or hash signs, instead of HTML tags. It is designed to be easy to write and read in its raw form. Agency Messages and Incident Posts both support Markdown.

With Markdown, you can add structure and emphasis to your messages. Use headings to break up longer posts, bold or italicize key details, such as time-sensitive instructions, or add cleaner links to additional resources. The result is a more polished message that is easier to scan and easier to act on.

Markdown should cover all the formatting you'll need for community messaging of this nature. The examples below demonstrate the elements you'll use most often.

Agency Message prepared with Markdown

PulsePoint Respond Agency Message with Markdown

Agency Message displayed with Markdown

Markdown elements

HEADINGS

To create a heading, add hash signs (#) before a word or phrase. The number of hash signs you use corresponds to the heading level. For example, to create a level-three heading, use three hash signs (e.g., ### My Heading).

Markdown	Display
# Heading 1	Heading 1
## Heading 2	Heading 2
### Heading 3	Heading 3

EMPHASIS

You can add emphasis by making text bold or italic.

Bold

To bold text, add two asterisks or underscores before and after a word or phrase.

Italic

To italicize text, add one asterisk or underscore before and after a word or phrase.

Bold and Italic

To emphasize text with both bold and italics, add three asterisks or underscores before and after a word or phrase.

Markdown	Display
bold text	bold text
_italicized text_	italicized text
*bold and italicized text*	bold and italicized text

LISTS

You can organize items into ordered and unordered lists.

Ordered Lists

To create an ordered list, add numbered line items with periods. The numbers don’t have to be in numerical order, but the list should start with 1. Indent one or more items to create a nested list.

Markdown	Display
1. First item 2. Second item 3. Third item	First item Second item Third item
1. First item 3. Second item 5. Third item	First item Second item Third item
1. First item 2. Second item 1. Indented item 2. Indented item 3. Third item	First item Second item Indented item indented item Third item

Unordered Lists

To create an unordered list, add dashes (-), asterisks (*), or plus signs (+) in front of line items. Indent one or more items to create a nested list.

Markdown	Display
* First item * Second item * Third item	First item Second item Third item
+ First item + Second item + Indented item + Indented item + Third item	First item Second item Indented item indented item Third item

HORIZONTAL RULES

To create a horizontal rule, use three or more asterisks (***), dashes (---), or underscores (___) on a line by themselves.

LINKS

To create a link, enclose the link text in brackets immediately followed by the URL in parentheses, as shown below.

We recommend that you [download PulsePoint](https://www.pulsepoint.org/download).

The sentence will display as: We recommend that you download PulsePoint.