diff --git a/app/helpers/custom_fields_helper.rb b/app/helpers/custom_fields_helper.rb
index 256d6b635..997e684ff 100644
--- a/app/helpers/custom_fields_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/custom_fields_helper.rb
@@ -79,20 +79,24 @@ module CustomFieldsHelper
 
   # Return custom field html tag corresponding to its format
   def custom_field_tag(prefix, custom_value)
-    css = custom_value.custom_field.css_classes
+    cf = custom_value.custom_field
+    css = cf.css_classes
+    placeholder = cf.description
+    placeholder&.tr!("\n", ' ') if cf.field_format != 'text'
     data = nil
-    if custom_value.custom_field.full_text_formatting?
+    if cf.full_text_formatting?
       css += ' wiki-edit'
       data = {
         :auto_complete => true
       }
     end
-    custom_value.custom_field.format.edit_tag(
+    cf.format.edit_tag(
       self,
-      custom_field_tag_id(prefix, custom_value.custom_field),
-      custom_field_tag_name(prefix, custom_value.custom_field),
+      custom_field_tag_id(prefix, cf),
+      custom_field_tag_name(prefix, cf),
       custom_value,
       :class => css,
+      :placeholder => placeholder,
       :data => data)
   end
 
diff --git a/public/stylesheets/application.css b/public/stylesheets/application.css
index fca5f5647..71598b917 100644
--- a/public/stylesheets/application.css
+++ b/public/stylesheets/application.css
@@ -510,6 +510,10 @@ textarea:focus, textarea:active {
   outline: none;
 }
 
+input:placeholder-shown {
+  text-overflow: ellipsis;
+}
+
 select[multiple=multiple] {background: #fff; padding-right: initial; height: auto;}
 fieldset {border: 1px solid #e4e4e4; margin:0; min-width: inherit;}
 legend {color: #333;}
diff --git a/test/helpers/custom_fields_helper_test.rb b/test/helpers/custom_fields_helper_test.rb
index 95b998584..e6d81a925 100644
--- a/test/helpers/custom_fields_helper_test.rb
+++ b/test/helpers/custom_fields_helper_test.rb
@@ -96,6 +96,13 @@ class CustomFieldsHelperTest < Redmine::HelperTest
     assert_select_in custom_field_tag('object', value), "textarea.text_cf.wiki-edit.cf_#{field.id}"
   end
 
+  def test_custom_field_tag_class_should_contain_placeholder
+    field = IssueCustomField.create!(:name => 'Text', :field_format => 'string', :description => "Foo\nBar\nBaz")
+    value = CustomValue.new(:value => 'bar', :custom_field => field)
+
+    assert_select_in custom_field_tag('object', value), "input.string_cf.cf_#{field.id}[placeholder=?]", 'Foo Bar Baz'
+  end
+
   def test_select_type_radio_buttons
     result = select_type_radio_buttons('UserCustomField')
     assert_select_in result, 'input[type="radio"]', :count => 10