diff --git a/tools/server/public_simplechat/docs/changelog.md b/tools/server/public_simplechat/docs/changelog.md
index 98010de0d9..b2a40d8a60 100644
--- a/tools/server/public_simplechat/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/tools/server/public_simplechat/docs/changelog.md
@@ -305,6 +305,7 @@ Chat Session specific settings
   * lists (ordered, unordered, intermixed at diff leves)
     accomodate lines without list markers inbetween list items to some extent, hopefully in a sane way.
   * tables, fenced code blocks, blockquotes
+  * User given control to enable markdown implicitly at a session level, or explicitly set wrt individual msgs.
 * Rename fetch_web_url_raw to fetch_url_raw, avoids confusion and matchs semantic of access to local and web.
 
 
diff --git a/tools/server/public_simplechat/docs/details.md b/tools/server/public_simplechat/docs/details.md
index 7be58683da..022aaffe86 100644
--- a/tools/server/public_simplechat/docs/details.md
+++ b/tools/server/public_simplechat/docs/details.md
@@ -268,7 +268,8 @@ It is attached to the document object. Some of these can also be updated using t
 
     * Markdown
 
-      - enabled: whether markdown support is enabled or not.
+      - enabled: whether auto markdown support is enabled or not at a session level.
+        - user can always override explicitly wrt any chat message, as they see fit.
       - always: if true, all messages text content interpreted as Markdown based text and converted to html for viewing.
         if false, then interpret only ai assistant's text content as markdown.
       - htmlSanitize: text content sanitized using browser's dom parser, so html/xml tags get converted to normal visually equivalent text representation, before processing by markdown to html conversion logic.
diff --git a/tools/server/public_simplechat/index.html b/tools/server/public_simplechat/index.html
index d99489a24a..8bc582459a 100644
--- a/tools/server/public_simplechat/index.html
+++ b/tools/server/public_simplechat/index.html
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 
             <div id="popover-chatmsg" popover="auto">
                 <select id="popover-chatmsg-format">
+                    <option>default</option>
                     <option>plain</option>
                     <option>markdown</option>
                 </select>
diff --git a/tools/server/public_simplechat/readme.md b/tools/server/public_simplechat/readme.md
index 99707d5dff..e33e0e2c11 100644
--- a/tools/server/public_simplechat/readme.md
+++ b/tools/server/public_simplechat/readme.md
@@ -133,7 +133,8 @@ A lightweight simple minded ai chat client with a web front-end that supports mu
 - Client side Sliding window Context control, using `iRecentUserMsgCnt`, helps limit context sent to ai model
 
 - Optional
-  - simple minded markdown parsing of chat message text contents (default)
+  - simple minded markdown parsing of chat message text contents (default wrt assistant messages/responses)
+    - user can override, if needed globally or at a individual message level
   - auto trimming of trailing garbage from model outputs
 
 - Follows responsive design to try adapt to any screen size
diff --git a/tools/server/public_simplechat/simplechat.js b/tools/server/public_simplechat/simplechat.js
index f61fa5780a..8b95eee128 100644
--- a/tools/server/public_simplechat/simplechat.js
+++ b/tools/server/public_simplechat/simplechat.js
@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ export class NSChatMessage {
 
 class Format {
     static Text = {
+        Default: "default",
         Plain: "plain",
         Html: "html",
         Markdown: "markdown",
@@ -309,7 +310,7 @@ export class ChatMessageEx {
         }
         this.uniqId = ChatMessageEx.getUniqId()
         this.trimmedContent = trimmedContent;
-        this.textFormat = Format.Text.Plain
+        this.textFormat = Format.Text.Default
     }
 
     /**
@@ -325,7 +326,7 @@ export class ChatMessageEx {
     clear() {
         this.ns = new NSChatMessage()
         this.trimmedContent = undefined;
-        this.textFormat = Format.Text.Plain
+        this.textFormat = Format.Text.Default
     }
 
     /**
@@ -1531,7 +1532,7 @@ class MultiChatUI {
         for (const [name, stype, content] of showList) {
             let sftype = stype
             if (content.length > 0) {
-                if ((name == "content") && (chatSessionMarkdown.enabled)) {
+                if ((name == "content") && (sftype == Format.Text.Default) && (chatSessionMarkdown.enabled)) {
                     if (chatSessionMarkdown.always) {
                         sftype = Format.Text.Markdown
                     } else {
@@ -1848,6 +1849,15 @@ class MultiChatUI {
 
         // ChatMessage edit popover menu
 
+        this.elPopoverChatMsg.addEventListener('beforetoggle', (tev)=>{
+            let chatSession = this.simpleChats[this.curChatId]
+            let index = chatSession.get_chatmessage_index(this.uniqIdChatMsgPO)
+            let chat = chatSession.xchat[index]
+            if (chat.ns.has_content()) {
+                this.elPopoverChatMsgFormatSelect.value = chat.textFormat
+            }
+        })
+
         this.elPopoverChatMsgDelBtn.addEventListener('click', (ev) => {
             console.log(`DBUG:SimpleChat:MCUI:ChatMsgPO:Del:${this.curChatId}:${this.uniqIdChatMsgPO}`)
             this.chatmsg_del_uiupdate(this.curChatId, this.uniqIdChatMsgPO)