Content for inheritdoc tag is outdated. It hasn't been updated since the changes in VS 2019 16.4 to automatically inherit documentation.

[Camios]

Type of issue

Outdated article

Description

The release notes for VS 2019 16.4 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releases/2019/release-notes-v16.4#--visual-studio-2019-version-164 say the following about inheritdoc tag:

Methods that have no XML documentation can now automatically inherit XML documentation from the method it is overriding. Place your cursor over the undocumented method that implements a documented interface method. Quick Info will then display the XML documentation from the interface method. You can also inherit xml comments from base classes and interfaces with the <inheritdoc> tag. Docs example.

However, the MS guide for inheritdoc tag https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/codedoc#inheritdoc don't mention that documentation is automatically inherited and that leads readers to assume they have to spam the tag on inherited members unnecessarily. Please update the documentation to be consistent with the actual behaviour (per the release notes).

Page URL

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/xmldoc/recommended-tags#inheritdoc

Content source URL

https://github.com/dotnet/docs/blob/main/docs/csharp/language-reference/xmldoc/recommended-tags.md

Document Version Independent Id

d135d0a6-53d2-1567-0b1b-7aae5e07739f

Platform Id

ce5b8237-dd26-ccaa-9d21-575b220ae10e

Article author

@BillWagner

Metadata

• ID: 3bcb925f-ef72-9a64-3762-c0b4a96f9dc4
• PlatformId: ce5b8237-dd26-ccaa-9d21-575b220ae10e
• Service: dotnet-csharp
• Sub-service: lang-reference

Related Issues

[BillWagner]

adding @CyrusNajmabadi to get his thoughts.

The actual change here might be a bit different. Yes, the text from an inherited member will show up in Visual Studio. However, if you're creating a library, those nodes aren't automatically added to the XML output from the compiler.

In other words, for APIs you use only in your project, one could skip additional XML content. For libraries you intend to ship to others, you probably want to create full docs output.

[CyrusNajmabadi]

Bill is correct. THe text above refers to the VS behavior. Basically, that you can still get some level of reasonable docs on undocumented members in QuickInfo. However, that doesn't stop the need to actually add docs for public members, it just mitigates the pain when you don't.

[Camios]

Does it make sense for the compiler to be consistent with the VS behaviour? Is it possible the compiler can emit implicitly inherited doc automatically?

…

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 at 03:05, Cyrus Najmabadi ***@***.***> wrote: *CyrusNajmabadi* left a comment (dotnet/docs#47299) <#47299 (comment)> Bill is correct. THe text above refers to the VS behavior. Basically, that you can still get some level of reasonable docs on undocumented members in QuickInfo. However, that doesn't stop the need to actually add docs for public members, it just mitigates the pain when you don't. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#47299 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAVOHU6EG5CGOGZMLWOQLNT3IPPMFAVCNFSM6AAAAACBNTGNLOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTANZQGMYTAMJTGY> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[CyrusNajmabadi]

Does it make sense for the compiler to be consistent with the VS behaviour?

That would be a question for the compiler team. I imagine no, at least not without it being an opt-in flag, given that it would start changing a ton of projects.

[BillWagner]

I'll leave this open and in our backlog. I don't see it as a high priority, but a Note that describes the behavior in Visual Studio is useful.

I added the help wanted tag if anyone wants to submit a PR.

[shethaadit]

Hi @BillWagner, I have raised PR to fix this.