Markdown Table Rendering Inconsistency

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Posted on by AW-09010751-0

Yesterday, I observed that a Markdown Table would not render in an Ask node on Teams.
The frustrating thing is that it works fine when testing in Copilot Studio.

My workaround was to move the Markdown Table to a Message node first, then Ask my question.

However, I'm left with 2 questions:

1. Why would the Markdown Renderer be inconsistent between the Message node and the Ask node?

2. Why would testing in Copilot Studio behave inconsistently with Teams Chat behavior?

(Inconsistencies like this make for an extremely poor DX.)

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Giraldoj 923 Moderator on at

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Hi there!

One of the biggest issues with GenAI is that results can change on every run. Even the same question can produce different outputs depending on the channel.
In these cases, my recommendation is to lean on tools rather than free-form text. For example, Adaptive Cards or a code interpreter can help the agent generate tables in a more predictable way.

Finally, it’s worth testing different markdown formats in Teams, choosing the one that works best, and clearly documenting that path in the agent’s instructions.

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Prasad-MSFT Microsoft Employee on at

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1. Why is Markdown rendering inconsistent between Message and Ask nodes?

Teams limitations: The Teams client uses a different Markdown renderer than Copilot Studio’s test environment. In Teams, the Ask node (which expects user input) often restricts or sanitizes Markdown for security and UI consistency, and tables are not supported in input prompts.
Message nodes are rendered as standard bot messages, which support a broader subset of Markdown (including tables) in Teams.
Ask nodes are rendered as input prompts, which only support basic Markdown (bold, italics, links) and do not support tables or advanced formatting.
2. Why does Copilot Studio testing behave differently from Teams Chat?

Copilot Studio’s test chat uses a richer Markdown renderer and is less restrictive, so tables and advanced formatting work in both Message and Ask nodes.
Teams Chat enforces stricter rendering rules for security, accessibility, and UI consistency, leading to differences in what is displayed.
This is a known platform inconsistency and is not under direct control of Copilot Studio authors.

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Valantis 6,735 on at

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Hi @AW-09010751-0,

Prasad's explanation is correct and confirmed from Microsoft docs. To add one thing that might help you future-proof this:
Microsoft docs explicitly state: "Depending on the client and channel, support for Markdown, Adaptive Cards, and other message formats might not be available." This is a fundamental design principle in Copilot Studio the test pane renders more permissively than any real channel, and Teams has its own rendering rules that differ from the test environment by design.

Your workaround of splitting the table into a Message node before the Ask node is actually the correct pattern. Message nodes send a standard bot activity which Teams renders fully. Ask nodes generate an input prompt which Teams treats differently and applies stricter rendering.

The most reliable way to display tables in Teams specifically is to use Adaptive Cards instead of Markdown tables. Adaptive Card tables render consistently across all channels including Teams, while Markdown table support varies. You can build an Adaptive Card with a ColumnSet/Column layout that mirrors a table structure and it will render predictably in both test mode and Teams.

Best regards,

Valantis

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