How to Format Text in Discord: Bold, Italic, Underline, Code & Spoilers

Discord uses a Markdown-style syntax that lets you format text directly in the message box. Wrap words in asterisks for bold, underscores for italic, tildes for strikethrough, backticks for code, and double pipes for spoilers. No apps or bots needed. Type the symbols around your text and Discord renders the formatting instantly.

Quick-reference table

Each of these is covered in detail below.

Bold

Type two asterisks before and after your text: **like this**. Discord renders it in bold. This is the most common formatting option and works the same way Markdown bold works on other platforms.

Bold is useful for emphasizing key points in longer messages or making announcements stand out in busy channels. For a broader look at using bold text across different apps and platforms, see our guide on how to make text bold.

Italic

You have two options for italics. Wrap text in a single asterisk (*like this*) or a single underscore (_like this_). Both produce the same result.

The asterisk method is generally more reliable when you're mixing italic with other formatting. Underscores can sometimes conflict with Discord's underline syntax if you're not careful with spacing.

Underline

Discord includes underline formatting that standard Markdown does not. Type two underscores before and after your text: __like this__.

This is one area where Discord's Markdown variant differs from the original spec. In standard Markdown, double underscores produce bold text. In Discord, they produce underlined text. Keep this difference in mind if you use Markdown on other platforms.

Strikethrough

Wrap text in two tildes on each side: ~~like this~~. The result is text with a horizontal line through the middle.

Strikethrough works well for corrections, crossing items off a list, or adding a humorous retraction to a message.

Combining bold, italic, and underline

You can stack formatting symbols to combine multiple styles in a single piece of text:

• Bold italic: ***text*** (three asterisks on each side)
• Underline italic: __*text*__ (double underscores wrapping single asterisks)
• Underline bold: __**text**__ (double underscores wrapping double asterisks)
• Underline bold italic: __***text***__ (double underscores wrapping triple asterisks)

The order matters. Place the underline markers on the outside, with bold and italic markers nested inside them.

Inline code and code blocks

For short code snippets within a sentence, wrap the text in a single backtick on each side. Discord displays it in a monospace font with a gray background, making it visually distinct from regular text. This is handy for mentioning variable names, commands, or short technical references.

For multi-line code, place three backticks on a line by themselves before your code and three backticks on a line after it. Discord renders this as a separate code box with its own background.

You can also add a language name right after the opening three backticks (for example, python or javascript) to enable syntax highlighting. Discord supports highlighting for dozens of programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Java, C++, Ruby, and many more.

For a deeper look at monospace formatting, see our guide to monospace text on Discord.

Block quotes

Start a line with > followed by a space to create a single-line block quote. Discord displays it with a vertical bar on the left side, visually setting the quoted text apart from the rest of your message.

Use >>> followed by a space to quote everything that follows in your message, spanning multiple lines. This is useful when you want to quote a longer passage or respond to a multi-paragraph message.

Spoiler tags

Wrap text in double pipes to mark it as a spoiler: ||like this||. The text appears blacked out until the reader clicks on it to reveal the content.

Spoiler tags also work on images and file attachments. When you upload an image, you can mark it as a spoiler so it stays hidden until someone deliberately reveals it. This is useful for content warnings or hiding answers to questions in community channels.

Headers

Discord added header support in mid-2023, giving you three levels to work with:

• # Large heading (H1)
• ## Medium heading (H2)
• ### Small heading (H3)

One important detail: headers must appear at the very start of a message or after a line break. If you type # in the middle of a line, Discord will not render it as a heading. Start on a new line, type the hash symbols, add a space, and then your heading text.

Headers are especially useful for organizing longer messages, announcements, or pinned information in channels where people need to scan for specific sections.

Lists

Discord supports both unordered and ordered lists.

For unordered lists, start each line with - or * followed by a space:

• First item
• Second item
• Third item

For ordered lists, use numbers followed by a period:

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

Lists render with proper indentation and spacing, making structured information easier to scan in a busy channel.

Links

Discord automatically converts URLs into clickable links. Paste a full URL into your message and Discord will make it clickable without any special syntax.

You can also use Markdown link syntax for cleaner formatting: [click here](https://example.com). This displays your chosen link text instead of the raw URL. Adding a title after the URL in quotes, like [click here](https://example.com "Link title"), shows a tooltip on hover.

Note that Discord may display a warning when users click masked links to help prevent phishing attempts. This is normal behavior.

Where formatting works (and where it doesn't)

Discord's Markdown formatting works in chat messages, channel topic descriptions, and a few other text areas. It does not work in usernames, display names, or server names. Those fields ignore Markdown syntax entirely.

If you want styled text in places where Markdown is not supported, such as your display name or a server nickname, Unicode characters are the alternative. A fancy text generator swaps your letters for characters that already look bold or script, and you paste those into the name field. Your @username is the exception: it only accepts lowercase letters, numbers, underscores and periods. The Discord text formatter is for message Markdown, not names.

For a complete comparison of how Markdown formatting works across different chat platforms, check out our guide to Markdown formatting on WhatsApp, Discord & Slack.

Keep your character count in check

Discord messages have a 2,000-character limit (4,000 for Nitro subscribers). Formatting symbols count toward this limit. A heavily formatted message uses more characters than it appears to on screen, so keep an eye on your count when writing longer posts. Our Discord character limit guide covers the specifics for messages, usernames, bios, and every other field.

Formatting on Discord mobile

The same Markdown works in the Discord app on Android and iOS. Type the symbols directly, or select text in the message box to open the formatting options above the keyboard.

How to show symbols without formatting them

To type asterisks, underscores or tildes without triggering formatting, put a backslash in front of each one: \*\*not bold\*\*. Text inside an inline code span (single backticks) also ignores Markdown, so it's a quick way to show syntax to someone.

Fancy fonts in your name

Markdown can't style your display name, server nickname or username. For a styled display name or nickname, you need Unicode characters from a font generator, and your @username only accepts lowercase letters, numbers, underscores and periods. The Discord font generator guide explains what works in each name field.