How to Retain Line Breaks in SharePoint Comment History Field

If you are using SharePoint to manage your projects, you may have encountered an issue where the comments in the history field do not display line breaks as intended. This can lead to confusion when trying to interpret past comments, especially since the line breaks do appear in email notifications. In this blog post, we’ll explore why this happens and how to resolve the issue to retain the formatting in the SharePoint list detail view.

Understanding the Problem

When you enable history tracking in a SharePoint list, the Comments field is designed to keep all previous entries for tracking purposes. However, you may have noticed one significant problem: when you access this history in the read-only view, all line breaks are stripped away. This can be particularly frustrating when the same comments appear formatted correctly in email notifications or the Description field.

Common Symptoms

• Comments appear as a single block of text in the history field.
• Certain symbols may display as HTML codes, such as & showing as &.
• The issue is present in the default SharePoint pages like /EditForm.aspx and /DispForm.aspx.

The Solution: Customizing Your View

To address the issue of missing line breaks in the Comments field, we need to check how the field is set up. Here’s a step-by-step guide you can follow:

Step 1: Determine Your Viewing Method

First, figure out how you’re currently viewing the SharePoint list. Are you using:

• The default SharePoint view (AllItems.aspx)?
• A custom view via a DataFormWebPart?
• Another method?

This will influence how you can customize settings.

Step 2: Customize the Field in SharePoint Designer

If you have access to SharePoint Designer, you can customize the page that displays your list. Here’s what you need to do:

• Open SharePoint Designer and navigate to the page that displays your list.
• Locate the Comments field within the page’s source code.
• Ensure that the field is set to display as Rich Text, not just Plain Text.

This adjustment allows for formatting options, meaning line breaks and other styles can be retained in the view.

Step 3: Test for Success

After implementing the changes, return to the SharePoint list and refresh the view:

• Check to see if the comments now display properly with line breaks intact.
• Additionally, confirm that symbols are rendered correctly instead of displaying as HTML codes.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can effectively retain line breaks in the SharePoint comment history field, enhancing readability and usability. Customizing the view settings to allow for rich text formatting will preserve your comments’ intended layout, aiding in better communication and project management.

Feel free to share your thoughts or additional insights in the comments below!