diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jlab/sim/business/service/SyncService.java b/src/main/java/org/jlab/sim/business/service/SyncService.java
index 6eff2db..84a9894 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jlab/sim/business/service/SyncService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jlab/sim/business/service/SyncService.java
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ private static List<Software> parseProjects(
       String description = null;
 
       if (!item.isNull(DESCRIPTION)) {
-        description = item.getString(DESCRIPTION);
+        description = normalizeLineEndings(item.getString(DESCRIPTION));
       }
 
       JsonArray topics = item.getJsonArray("topics");
@@ -180,6 +180,19 @@ private static List<Software> parseProjects(
     return softwareList;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Replaces CRLF and CR line endings with LF. GitLab returns a description entered in its web form
+   * with CRLF line endings, but the sync page passes it through an HTML attribute, which the
+   * browser reads with LF line endings, so sim saves LF. Without this a synced description with a
+   * line break never matches.
+   *
+   * @param text The text
+   * @return The text with LF line endings
+   */
+  static String normalizeLineEndings(String text) {
+    return text.replace("\r\n", "\n").replace('\r', '\n');
+  }
+
   private static final Pattern LINK_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("<([^>]+)>\\s*;\\s*rel=\"([^\"]+)\"");
 
   /** The next page's URL from a response's first Link header, or null on the last page. */
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jlab/sim/business/service/SyncServiceParseTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jlab/sim/business/service/SyncServiceParseTest.java
index b30cfb7..a26d507 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/jlab/sim/business/service/SyncServiceParseTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jlab/sim/business/service/SyncServiceParseTest.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import org.jlab.sim.persistence.entity.Repository;
 import org.jlab.sim.persistence.entity.Software;
 import org.jlab.sim.persistence.enumeration.SoftwareType;
+import org.jlab.sim.persistence.view.SoftwareDiff;
 import org.jlab.smoothness.business.exception.UserFriendlyException;
 import org.jsoup.Jsoup;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -89,6 +90,40 @@ void gitLabProjectsBecomeSoftware() throws Exception {
     assertTrue(notes.isArchived());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  void multiLineDescriptionMatchesWhatSimSaved() throws Exception {
+    // GitLab returns a description entered in its web form with CRLF line endings; the sync page
+    // passes it through an HTML attribute, which the browser reads with LF line endings (sim#31)
+    String json =
+        """
+        [
+          {"name": "fsdlib", "web_url": "https://code.jlab.org/acc/ops/fsdlib",
+           "description": "FSD library\\r\\nfor apps\\rand scripts\\n", "topics": [],
+           "archived": false}
+        ]
+        """;
+
+    List<Software> remoteList = SyncService.parseGitLabProjects(json, REPOSITORY);
+
+    assertEquals("FSD library\nfor apps\nand scripts\n", remoteList.get(0).getDescription());
+
+    Software saved =
+        new Software(
+            REPOSITORY,
+            "fsdlib",
+            SoftwareType.APP,
+            "FSD library\nfor apps\nand scripts\n",
+            null,
+            "https://code.jlab.org/acc/ops/fsdlib",
+            false,
+            null);
+
+    SoftwareDiff diff = new SyncService().diff(List.of(saved), Map.of("fsdlib", remoteList.get(0)));
+
+    assertEquals(1, diff.getMatchList().size(), "matched, not updated again");
+    assertFalse(diff.hasChanges());
+  }
+
   @Test
   void emptyResultsAreNoSoftware() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(