Add alphabetic ordered list support to markdown parser by Copilot · Pull Request #11446 · outline/outline

Copilot · 2026-02-14T17:33:39Z

Markdown-it doesn't recognize alphabetic list markers (a., b., c.) by default, causing pasted markdown with alpha lists to render as plain paragraphs instead of formatted lists.

Changes

shared/editor/rules/alphaLists.ts - New markdown-it plugin that:
- Preprocesses source to convert alphabetic markers (a-z, A-Z) to numeric equivalents
- Maps line numbers to preserve original marker type and style
- Post-processes tokens to apply data-list-style attribute (lower-alpha/upper-alpha)
shared/editor/nodes/OrderedList.ts - Register plugin via rulePlugins getter and handle data-list-style attribute in parseMarkdown()
Tests - Unit tests for plugin and integration tests for full parse/serialize flow

Example

Pasting this markdown:

## Step Three

a. Do this.

b. Do that.

Now correctly renders as an alphabetic ordered list with listStyle: "lower-alpha" instead of plain paragraphs.

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Copy and Paste an Alpha List from MD to Outline</issue_title>
<issue_description>### Is there an existing issue for this?

I have searched the existing issues

This is not related to configuring Outline

The issue is not related to self-hosting config

Current Behavior

Copy and paste from a markdown file containing an alpha list into Outline does not auto-format. The issue does not apply to numerical lists. It is fixed by removing the space after a. and then adding it back in "a. This item" and then removing all letters after.

Expected Behavior

Auto-format as a list.

Steps To Reproduce

Copy and paste this into an Outline page
## 3. Step Three

a. Do this.

b. Do that.
Environment
- Outline: 1.4.0
- Browser: Firefox 147.0.3
Anything else?

No response</issue_description>

<agent_instructions>Update the markdown parsing rules to handle alpha list</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes Copy and Paste an Alpha List from MD to Outline #11405

✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.

Co-authored-by: tommoor <380914+tommoor@users.noreply.github.com>

CLAassistant · 2026-02-14T17:40:51Z

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Co-authored-by: tommoor <380914+tommoor@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds support for parsing alphabetic ordered lists (a., b., c., etc.) to the markdown editor. The implementation addresses a user-reported issue where pasting markdown containing alphabetic lists would render as plain paragraphs instead of formatted lists.

Changes:

Added a new markdown-it plugin that preprocesses alphabetic list markers by converting them to numeric equivalents while preserving the original marker information
Integrated the plugin into the OrderedList node to handle the data-list-style attribute during parsing
Added comprehensive unit tests for the plugin and integration tests for the full parse/serialize flow

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
shared/editor/rules/alphaLists.ts	New markdown-it plugin that preprocesses alphabetic markers (a-z, A-Z) to numeric equivalents, tracks marker information via line mapping, and post-processes tokens to apply `data-list-style` attributes
shared/editor/rules/alphaLists.test.ts	Unit tests covering lowercase/uppercase alpha lists, numeric list preservation, the issue example, and multiple separate lists
shared/editor/nodes/OrderedList.ts	Registers the alphaLists plugin via `rulePlugins` getter and updates `parseMarkdown()` to handle the `data-list-style` attribute with fallback to markup checking
server/editor/index.test.ts	Integration tests verifying full parse/serialize round-trip for lowercase and uppercase alpha lists, blank line handling, and numeric list preservation

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This PR contains the following updates: | Package | Update | Change | |---|---|---| | [outline/outline](https://github.com/outline/outline) | minor | `1.4.0` → `1.5.0` | --- ### Release Notes <details> <summary>outline/outline (outline/outline)</summary> ### [`v1.5.0`](https://github.com/outline/outline/releases/tag/v1.5.0) [Compare Source](outline/outline@v1.4.0...v1.5.0) #### What's Changed ##### Improvements - Added sorting options to the search screen in [#11242](outline/outline#11242) - Added `diff` language highlighting for code blocks in [#11301](outline/outline#11301) - Allow `cmd+enter` to toggle all checkboxes in a selection in [#11322](outline/outline#11322) - Added support for currency sorting in tables in [#11332](outline/outline#11332) - Added a custom color picker for text highlights in [#11337](outline/outline#11337) - Clicking on a group in the share dialog now shows it's members in [#11338](outline/outline#11338) - Table headers are now sticky in [#11353](outline/outline#11353) - Importing toggle blocks from Notion is now supported in [#11371](outline/outline#11371) - All tables in settings now have right-click context menu support in [#11378](outline/outline#11378) - Added a hide/show completed items control for checkbox lists in [#11379](outline/outline#11379) - Markdown frontmatter is now converted to YAML code blocks on import in [#11420](outline/outline#11420) - Added a "Rename" option to sidebar context menus in [#11425](outline/outline#11425) - Added Alt-click to recursively expand or collapse sidebar documents and collections in [#11432](outline/outline#11432) - Added a preference for desktop notification badge with off, count, and indicator options in [#11436](outline/outline#11436) - Added alphabetic ordered list support to markdown import and paste in [#11446](outline/outline#11446) - Allow creating a new document before or after another in the sidebar in [#11453](outline/outline#11453) ##### Fixes - Preserved alignment and caption when replacing images in [#11407](outline/outline#11407) - Improved popularity scoring job performance in [#11293](outline/outline#11293) - Fixed downloading mermaid images from the lightbox in [#11300](outline/outline#11300) - Further popularity scoring performance improvements in [#11305](outline/outline#11305) - Fixed text truncation with emoji icons in sidebar in [#11307](outline/outline#11307) - Separated user input errors from internal errors for Sentry reporting in [#11308](outline/outline#11308) - Fixed editor focus loss on text link interaction in [#11310](outline/outline#11310) - Removed unnecessary Markdown conversion when importing HTML in [#11315](outline/outline#11315) - Fixed "New draft" from command menu leading to "Not found" in [#11316](outline/outline#11316) - Improved slow query in `CleanupDeletedDocumentsTask` in [#11317](outline/outline#11317) - Removed Babel from production dependencies in [#11318](outline/outline#11318) - Minor React performance optimizations in [#11319](outline/outline#11319) - Fixed share panel state for drafts in a shared parent in [#11320](outline/outline#11320) - Fixed embed option showing for links that cannot be embedded in [#11323](outline/outline#11323) - Fixed non-admins being unable to see public ACL attachments in [#11326](outline/outline#11326) - Fixed suggestion menu inserting at incorrect position when choosing with mouse in [#11327](outline/outline#11327) - Fixed passkey registration with non-standard HTTPS ports in [#11329](outline/outline#11329) - Fixed collapsed toggles not expanding when they contain the highlighted search result in [#11330](outline/outline#11330) - Fixed column and row selection not restoring after sort or align in [#11333](outline/outline#11333) - Renamed `DATABASE_READ_ONLY_URL` environment variable in [#11334](outline/outline#11334) - Fixed Safari print offset issue in [#11339](outline/outline#11339) - Permanently deleted documents are now removed from the local store in [#11344](outline/outline#11344) - Fixed overly broad catch-all on root share in [#11346](outline/outline#11346) - Removed hanging toggle sidebar button with no functionality in [#11350](outline/outline#11350) - Fixed tables with merged cells behaving incorrectly when sorting in [#11351](outline/outline#11351) - Fixed prefetching document structure for starred documents in [#11355](outline/outline#11355) - Refactored `activeDocumentId` handling in [#11144](outline/outline#11144) - Fixed missing outline on focused editable elements in [#11362](outline/outline#11362) - Fixed document creation routing to use the correct parameter name in [#11369](outline/outline#11369) - Fixed test snapshot in [#11391](outline/outline#11391) - Auto-compressed images by [@github-actions](https://github.com/github-actions)\[bot] in [#11394](outline/outline#11394) - Fixed test snapshot in [#11395](outline/outline#11395) - Fixed Sentry error resulting from browser extensions using MobX in [#11399](outline/outline#11399) - Fixed selection toolbar issues around link selection in [#11408](outline/outline#11408) - Removed unnecessary loading of authentication rows in `userProvisioner` in [#11413](outline/outline#11413) - Allowlisted more methods for CSRF skip in [#11414](outline/outline#11414) - Added `application_name` to database logging in [#11415](outline/outline#11415) - Fixed exporting a document with a table causing a crash in [#11422](outline/outline#11422) - Fixed an issue in active context creation due to a fallback in [#11426](outline/outline#11426) - Stopped using public ACL for avatars in [#11427](outline/outline#11427) - Fixed potential task queue saturation in the Notion importer in [#11428](outline/outline#11428) - Fixed edits containing only a mention below edit distance not triggering a notification in [#11434](outline/outline#11434) - Fixed missing check for disabled group mentions in [#11435](outline/outline#11435) - Fixed mispositioned toolbar on first document open in [#11437](outline/outline#11437) - Fixed creating a new document from the sidebar not redirecting correctly to edit mode in [#11442](outline/outline#11442) - Fixed collections with the same name overwriting each other in export in [#11443](outline/outline#11443) - Fixed notification badge not appearing until the notification popover was opened in [#11444](outline/outline#11444) - Translation locale files now load over `CDN_URL` for better performance in [#11445](outline/outline#11445) - Fixed synthetic "latest" revision failing to load in [#11451](outline/outline#11451) - Added missing tooltips in [#11452](outline/outline#11452) - Cleaned up the collection create dialog in [#11454](outline/outline#11454) - Fixed small race conditions in the diagrams.net integration in [#11458](outline/outline#11458) **Full Changelog**: <outline/outline@v1.4.0...v1.5.0> </details> --- ### Configuration 📅 **Schedule**: Branch creation - At any time (no schedule defined), Automerge - At any time (no schedule defined). 🚦 **Automerge**: Disabled by config. Please merge this manually once you are satisfied. ♻ **Rebasing**: Whenever PR is behind base branch, or you tick the rebase/retry checkbox. 🔕 **Ignore**: Close this PR and you won't be reminded about this update again. --- - [ ] If you want to rebase/retry this PR, check this box --- This PR has been generated by [Renovate Bot](https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate).  Reviewed-on: https://gitea.alexlebens.dev/alexlebens/infrastructure/pulls/4012 Co-authored-by: Renovate Bot <renovate-bot@alexlebens.net> Co-committed-by: Renovate Bot <renovate-bot@alexlebens.net>

This PR contains the following updates: | Package | Update | Change | |---|---|---| | [outlinewiki/outline](https://github.com/outline/outline) | minor | `1.4.0` → `1.5.0` | --- ### Release Notes <details> <summary>outline/outline (outlinewiki/outline)</summary> ### [`v1.5.0`](https://github.com/outline/outline/releases/tag/v1.5.0) [Compare Source](outline/outline@v1.4.0...v1.5.0) ##### What's Changed ##### Improvements - Added sorting options to the search screen in [#11242](outline/outline#11242) - Added `diff` language highlighting for code blocks in [#11301](outline/outline#11301) - Allow `cmd+enter` to toggle all checkboxes in a selection in [#11322](outline/outline#11322) - Added support for currency sorting in tables in [#11332](outline/outline#11332) - Added a custom color picker for text highlights in [#11337](outline/outline#11337) - Clicking on a group in the share dialog now shows it's members in [#11338](outline/outline#11338) - Table headers are now sticky in [#11353](outline/outline#11353) - Importing toggle blocks from Notion is now supported in [#11371](outline/outline#11371) - All tables in settings now have right-click context menu support in [#11378](outline/outline#11378) - Added a hide/show completed items control for checkbox lists in [#11379](outline/outline#11379) - Markdown frontmatter is now converted to YAML code blocks on import in [#11420](outline/outline#11420) - Added a "Rename" option to sidebar context menus in [#11425](outline/outline#11425) - Added Alt-click to recursively expand or collapse sidebar documents and collections in [#11432](outline/outline#11432) - Added a preference for desktop notification badge with off, count, and indicator options in [#11436](outline/outline#11436) - Added alphabetic ordered list support to markdown import and paste in [#11446](outline/outline#11446) - Allow creating a new document before or after another in the sidebar in [#11453](outline/outline#11453) ##### Fixes - Preserved alignment and caption when replacing images in [#11407](outline/outline#11407) - Improved popularity scoring job performance in [#11293](outline/outline#11293) - Fixed downloading mermaid images from the lightbox in [#11300](outline/outline#11300) - Further popularity scoring performance improvements in [#11305](outline/outline#11305) - Fixed text truncation with emoji icons in sidebar in [#11307](outline/outline#11307) - Separated user input errors from internal errors for Sentry reporting in [#11308](outline/outline#11308) - Fixed editor focus loss on text link interaction in [#11310](outline/outline#11310) - Removed unnecessary Markdown conversion when importing HTML in [#11315](outline/outline#11315) - Fixed "New draft" from command menu leading to "Not found" in [#11316](outline/outline#11316) - Improved slow query in `CleanupDeletedDocumentsTask` in [#11317](outline/outline#11317) - Removed Babel from production dependencies in [#11318](outline/outline#11318) - Minor React performance optimizations in [#11319](outline/outline#11319) - Fixed share panel state for drafts in a shared parent in [#11320](outline/outline#11320) - Fixed embed option showing for links that cannot be embedded in [#11323](outline/outline#11323) - Fixed non-admins being unable to see public ACL attachments in [#11326](outline/outline#11326) - Fixed suggestion menu inserting at incorrect position when choosing with mouse in [#11327](outline/outline#11327) - Fixed passkey registration with non-standard HTTPS ports in [#11329](outline/outline#11329) - Fixed collapsed toggles not expanding when they contain the highlighted search result in [#11330](outline/outline#11330) - Fixed column and row selection not restoring after sort or align in [#11333](outline/outline#11333) - Renamed `DATABASE_READ_ONLY_URL` environment variable in [#11334](outline/outline#11334) - Fixed Safari print offset issue in [#11339](outline/outline#11339) - Permanently deleted documents are now removed from the local store in [#11344](outline/outline#11344) - Fixed overly broad catch-all on root share in [#11346](outline/outline#11346) - Removed hanging toggle sidebar button with no functionality in [#11350](outline/outline#11350) - Fixed tables with merged cells behaving incorrectly when sorting in [#11351](outline/outline#11351) - Fixed prefetching document structure for starred documents in [#11355](outline/outline#11355) - Refactored `activeDocumentId` handling in [#11144](outline/outline#11144) - Fixed missing outline on focused editable elements in [#11362](outline/outline#11362) - Fixed document creation routing to use the correct parameter name in [#11369](outline/outline#11369) - Fixed test snapshot in [#11391](outline/outline#11391) - Auto-compressed images by [@github-actions](https://github.com/github-actions)\[bot] in [#11394](outline/outline#11394) - Fixed test snapshot in [#11395](outline/outline#11395) - Fixed Sentry error resulting from browser extensions using MobX in [#11399](outline/outline#11399) - Fixed selection toolbar issues around link selection in [#11408](outline/outline#11408) - Removed unnecessary loading of authentication rows in `userProvisioner` in [#11413](outline/outline#11413) - Allowlisted more methods for CSRF skip in [#11414](outline/outline#11414) - Added `application_name` to database logging in [#11415](outline/outline#11415) - Fixed exporting a document with a table causing a crash in [#11422](outline/outline#11422) - Fixed an issue in active context creation due to a fallback in [#11426](outline/outline#11426) - Stopped using public ACL for avatars in [#11427](outline/outline#11427) - Fixed potential task queue saturation in the Notion importer in [#11428](outline/outline#11428) - Fixed edits containing only a mention below edit distance not triggering a notification in [#11434](outline/outline#11434) - Fixed missing check for disabled group mentions in [#11435](outline/outline#11435) - Fixed mispositioned toolbar on first document open in [#11437](outline/outline#11437) - Fixed creating a new document from the sidebar not redirecting correctly to edit mode in [#11442](outline/outline#11442) - Fixed collections with the same name overwriting each other in export in [#11443](outline/outline#11443) - Fixed notification badge not appearing until the notification popover was opened in [#11444](outline/outline#11444) - Translation locale files now load over `CDN_URL` for better performance in [#11445](outline/outline#11445) - Fixed synthetic "latest" revision failing to load in [#11451](outline/outline#11451) - Added missing tooltips in [#11452](outline/outline#11452) - Cleaned up the collection create dialog in [#11454](outline/outline#11454) - Fixed small race conditions in the diagrams.net integration in [#11458](outline/outline#11458) **Full Changelog**: <outline/outline@v1.4.0...v1.5.0> </details> --- ### Configuration 📅 **Schedule**: Branch creation - At any time (no schedule defined), Automerge - At any time (no schedule defined). 🚦 **Automerge**: Disabled by config. Please merge this manually once you are satisfied. ♻ **Rebasing**: Whenever PR is behind base branch, or you tick the rebase/retry checkbox. 🔕 **Ignore**: Close this PR and you won't be reminded about this update again. --- - [ ] If you want to rebase/retry this PR, check this box --- This PR has been generated by [Renovate Bot](https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate).  Reviewed-on: https://gitea.alexlebens.dev/alexlebens/infrastructure/pulls/4013 Co-authored-by: Renovate Bot <renovate-bot@alexlebens.net> Co-committed-by: Renovate Bot <renovate-bot@alexlebens.net>

Initial plan

d50fe5c

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and tommoor Feb 14, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of tommoor February 14, 2026 17:33 View session

Add alpha list markdown parsing support

f0b0315

Co-authored-by: tommoor <380914+tommoor@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI and others added 3 commits February 14, 2026 17:42

Add integration tests for alpha list parsing and serialization

2344b5b

Co-authored-by: tommoor <380914+tommoor@users.noreply.github.com>

Address code review feedback - improve marker matching logic

908fe0b

Co-authored-by: tommoor <380914+tommoor@users.noreply.github.com>

Add explanatory comment for line offset constant

5542f0e

Co-authored-by: tommoor <380914+tommoor@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Fix markdown copy and paste formatting in Outline~~ Add alphabetic ordered list support to markdown parser Feb 14, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from tommoor February 14, 2026 17:48

Copilot finished work on behalf of tommoor February 14, 2026 17:48

tommoor requested a review from Copilot February 14, 2026 18:09

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of tommoor February 14, 2026 18:10 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 14, 2026

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Comment thread shared/editor/rules/alphaLists.test.ts

tommoor approved these changes Feb 14, 2026

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tommoor marked this pull request as ready for review February 14, 2026 21:08

auto-assign Bot requested a review from tommoor February 14, 2026 21:08

tommoor merged commit 057d57e into main Feb 14, 2026
20 of 21 checks passed

tommoor deleted the copilot/update-markdown-parsing-rules branch February 14, 2026 21:09

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Add alphabetic ordered list support to markdown parser#11446

Add alphabetic ordered list support to markdown parser#11446
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Copilot AI commented Feb 14, 2026 •

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