Why formatting parity is a quality metric
If preview and exported Word differ too much, teams lose trust in the tool. Parity reduces QA effort and shortens delivery cycles.
High-impact elements to align
- Table alignment and borders
- Inline code emphasis
- Heading color and spacing
- Quote and code block visual separation
A lightweight QA loop
- Keep a default Markdown test fixture.
- Compare preview against exported DOCX on every release.
- Track regressions with screenshots and XML checks.
- Update acceptance checklists after each fix.
Final takeaway
In conversion tools, visual consistency is not polish; it is product reliability.