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Markdown to email guide

Fix Bullet Lists Breaking in Outlook

Pasted bullets show as hyphens, lose indentation, or merge into one paragraph in Outlook. The cause is Markdown or plain-text bullets arriving without list markup — here is the fix.

Direct answer

Bullets break in Outlook when the pasted text contains hyphen characters instead of real list markup — Outlook renders '- item' as a plain paragraph starting with a dash, and its autoformat only converts dashes you type, not ones you paste. The fix is to convert the Markdown list to HTML <ul><li> markup with inline styles and paste it as rich text, so Outlook receives an actual list.

Open Markdown to Email converter

When to use this

  • Pasted bullets show as literal hyphens or asterisks in the Outlook compose window.
  • List items merged into one run-on paragraph after pasting.
  • Nested bullets lost their indentation and flattened to one level.

Steps

  1. Confirm the source list is valid Markdown: each item on its own line, starting with -, *, or a number.
  2. Convert the Markdown — list items become <li> elements wrapped in a styled <ul>.
  3. Press Copy Rich to copy the formatted list.
  4. Paste into Outlook with a normal paste, not Paste Special > Keep Text Only.
  5. Check indentation and spacing in the compose window before sending.

Example conversion

Markdown input
Action items from today:

- Send the revised SOW to legal
- Update the pricing sheet
- Book the kickoff for **March 3**

Numbered rollout:

1. Enable the flag for beta users
2. Watch error rates for 48h
3. Roll out to all tenants
Email HTML output
<p style="margin:12px 0;line-height:1.6;color:#374151;">Action items from today:</p>
<ul style="margin:12px 0;padding-left:20px;"><li style="margin:4px 0;">Send the revised SOW to legal</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Update the pricing sheet</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Book the kickoff for <strong>March 3</strong></li></ul>
<p style="margin:12px 0;line-height:1.6;color:#374151;">Numbered rollout:</p>
<ul style="margin:12px 0;padding-left:20px;"><li style="margin:4px 0;">Enable the flag for beta users</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Watch error rates for 48h</li>
<li style="margin:4px 0;">Roll out to all tenants</li></ul>

Common mistakes

  • Do not paste plain-text hyphens and expect Outlook to auto-convert them — autoformat runs while typing, not on paste.
  • Do not use Keep Text Only when pasting a converted list; it strips the list markup you just created.
  • Do not nest lists more than two levels for Outlook recipients; deep nesting renders inconsistently across Outlook versions.
  • Do not mix soft line breaks (Shift+Enter) into list items in the source; they merge items together on conversion.

FAQ

Why do my bullets show as hyphens in Outlook?
The paste delivered plain text, so Outlook shows the dash characters as typed. Real bullets require HTML list markup (<ul><li>). Converting the Markdown first and pasting rich text supplies exactly that.
Why did my list items merge into one paragraph?
The line breaks were dropped in the paste — common when copying from chat apps or PDFs. Restore one item per line in the Markdown source, then convert; each line becomes its own <li>.
Do numbered lists work the same way?
Yes. Markdown numbered lists (1., 2., 3.) convert to list markup that Outlook renders with correct sequence and indentation, the same rich-text paste flow as bullets.
Will the fixed list also render in Gmail and Apple Mail?
Yes. The converted list uses inline margins and padding on standard <ul> and <li> elements, which every major client supports. Outlook is the strictest case; if it renders there, it renders everywhere.

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