Formatting Placeholder Text in Instructions
Formatting Placeholder Text in Instructions records a distinct Microsoft Style Guide authoring convention and keeps it explicitly scoped to technical documentation rather than presenting it as a universal grammar rule.
Format placeholders using the Microsoft instruction convention so readers can tell which text they must replace with their own value.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
Preserve any syntax-required delimiters separately from the typographic convention, and make the substitution role clear in surrounding instructions.
Further guidance
Content
Format placeholders using the Microsoft instruction convention so readers can tell which text they must replace with their own value.
Purpose
Prevent a placeholder from being mistaken for literal user input or a fixed UI label.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Formatting text in instructions — Microsoft Style Guide (opens in a new tab)Microsoft · Current Microsoft technical-style conventions for formatting UI references, user input, commands, code-related elements, and other text in instructions.