Top Q&A features
Microsoft Q&A is a technical community platform part of Microsoft Docs that provides a rich online experience in answering your technical questions. Microsoft Q&A enables developers and IT professionals across the world to find learning resources, submit questions, connect with Microsoft engineering and community experts, and share feedback all in a single platform. Microsoft Q&A aims to create a thriving technical community to share collective Microsoft knowledge and provide key insights you need to continue your journey on Microsoft technologies.
Get instant answers from MSDN and TechNet forums
Looking at suggested questions before you ask yours might help you get your answer faster if a user had a similar problem. When you want to ask a question, and start typing one, Microsoft Q&A now shows similar questions which have already been answered on MSDN and TechNet forums, in addition to those answered on Microsoft Q&A. This helps you save time and get to the answer immediately.
Start typing your question title, you would see suggestions in the drop down with both Q&A and MSDN &TechNet forums hits. MSDN Forums matches have "MSDN Forum" prefix in the title. All matches, regardless of the source, also show the number of answers and votes to help you pick the best suggestion.
Simply click on the suggestion to view the answer(s) on MSDN and TechNet forum.
If the question and the answers did not meet your need, you could always come back to Q&A and try another suggested answer or post your question.
Accept valid answers
If you ask a question and one of its answer solves your problem, mark it as Accepted Answer. The accepted answer acknowledgement gives confidence to other community users that the person who had the problem confirmed the answer solved their issue. You can read details here.
Earn reputation points
Earn reputation points by taking part and contributing positively to the Q&A community. For example, when someone recognizes your answer as correct, you’ll receive reputation points. You can read details here on how to accumulate reputation points.
Become a product expert
Another way to get a good reputation in Microsoft Q&A is by becoming a product expert. You become a product expert when you get three Accepted Answers on a product tag over a 30-day period. When you become a product expert you will automatically begin to follow that tag. This means that when a question is posted with a tag within your expertise, you will automatically receive an e-mail notification prompting you to answer. You can read details here.
Get answers from Microsoft experts
Affiliations for Microsoft employees and Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) show in the user’s card, so you know you are getting an answer from a Microsoft-trusted source.
In order for MVPs to see their affiliation, they need to sign up in Q&A with the same account that they use for the MVP Program. Likewise, Microsoft employees need to use their corpnet credentials for the affiliation to display.
Autosave
AutoSave is a new feature available in Microsoft Q&A that saves your in-progress post (question, answer, comment, or site feedback) every few seconds, as you work. Autosave helps reduce the risk of data loss in case of moving away before submission or a submission error.
More information in this Autosave article.
Private messages
Private comments allow Microsoft support personnel to have a private conversation with a user to help them troubleshoot when Personally Identifiable Information (PII) needs to be exchanged.
Only certain Microsoft employees (moderators and administrators) can start a private message exchange with the original poster of a node. In the majority of the cases it will be the person who posted a question, although Microsoft employees can have a private conversation with the original poster of a feedback item, answer, comment, or article (created by Microsoft Q&A administrators).
More information in this Private comments article.
Markdown editor highlighted features
Copy and paste images from the clipboard
Now you can copy and paste images from the clipboard directly into the editor. Simply paste the image and update the ALT text and you are all set!
Drag and drop images
If you have images saved on your computer you would like to upload to your post, you can use the drag and drop image feature. Simply click on the image link in the editor toolbar and drag and drop the image to the dialog.
Use ``` (triple backticks) for code blocks
You can either use four spaces before each line or triple back-ticks in the beginning and the end as valid markers for code blocks.
See who asked the question
In content lists, in addition to showing the information who last contributed to a question thread, you also see the person who asked the question or suggested the feedback.
