# New MD renderer: render citations as numbering instead of citekey

**URL:** <https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/new-md-renderer-render-citations-as-numbering-instead-of-citekey/87604>\
**Category:** Feedback\
**Created:** [September 9, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/new-md-renderer-render-citations-as-numbering-instead-of-citekey/87604 "2026-09-09T14:00:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![xurc](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/c4cdca/32.png) [@xurc](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/xurc)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/new-md-renderer-render-citations-as-numbering-instead-of-citekey/87604/1 "2026-09-09T14:00:41Z")

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Hi there!

I’ve been absolutely in love with the new markdown editing experience, thank you for the amazing updates as always!

One trivial complaint I have is the way citations are rendered. Let’s say I have a citation `[p42][#dt42026]` in the body text. Previously, the MultiMarkdown renderer would render it as `(1), p42` where the numbering is automatic, whereas the new renderer will render the full citekey, i.e., `[dt42026, p42]`.

I vastly prefer the ease of use and visual cleanness of the previous approach, so would it be possible for it to make a comeback? Or at least in the form of a hidden preference, if Development deliberately decided to favor the new approach as the default behavior?

Thank you! 🙂

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**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 3:50pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/new-md-renderer-render-citations-as-numbering-instead-of-citekey/87604/2 "2026-09-09T15:50:40Z")

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Thank you for the feedback! The next release will fix this regression of the new HTML renderer.

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**Author:** ![xurc](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/x/c4cdca/32.png) [@xurc](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/xurc)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/new-md-renderer-render-citations-as-numbering-instead-of-citekey/87604/3 "2026-09-09T23:37:23Z")

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Glad to hear it was actually a regression. Thank you Christian, the new renderer is such a phenomenal upgrade!