The Complete Guide to Discord Text Formatting: Bold, Italic & More

Whether you're managing a game community, running announcements, or just chatting with friends, knowing how to format text in Discord transforms your messages from walls of text into clear, scannable communication.

Discord uses Markdown, a lightweight formatting system that lets you add emphasis, structure, and visual flair to your messages with simple symbols. This guide covers everything from basic bold and italic formatting to advanced techniques like colored code blocks and syntax highlighting.

Bookmark this page as your go-to reference for Discord formatting.

Why Discord Formatting Matters for Community Managers

If you're managing a game community, server formatting isn't just about aesthetics. Well-formatted announcements get read. Cluttered walls of text get skimmed or skipped entirely.

Clear formatting helps you communicate server rules so members actually understand them, structure announcements so important details stand out, organize feedback channels where players can easily scan responses, and create onboarding messages that welcome new members without overwhelming them.

The difference between a thriving community and a chaotic one often comes down to clear communication, and formatting is one of the simplest but most impactful tools you have.

Basic Text Formatting in Discord

Let's start with the fundamentals. These formatting options work in DMs, channels, and servers across desktop, web, and mobile.

How to Bold Text in Discord

Bold text is perfect for emphasizing important information, announcements, or key terms your community needs to notice.

How to do it: Wrap your text in double asterisks.

**This text will be bold**

Result: This text will be bold

Desktop shortcut: Highlight text and press Ctrl+B (Windows) or Cmd+B (Mac)

Use bold formatting when you need critical information to stand out, like server rules, event times, or important updates.

How to Italicize Text in Discord

Italics add emphasis or indicate titles, quotes, and softer tones in your messages.

How to do it: Wrap your text in single asterisks or underscores.

*This text will be italic*

_This also works_

Result: This text will be italic

Desktop shortcut: Highlight text and press Ctrl+I (Windows) or Cmd+I (Mac)

How to Underline Text in Discord

Underlining helps text stand out and works well for section titles within longer messages.

How to do it: Wrap your text in double underscores.

__This text will be underlined__

Result: This text will be underlined

Desktop shortcut: Highlight text and press Ctrl+U (Windows) or Cmd+U (Mac)

How to Strikethrough Text in Discord

Strikethrough is useful for corrections, humor, or indicating something is no longer relevant.

How to do it: Wrap your text in double tildes.

~~This text will be crossed out~~

Result: This text will be crossed out

Common use case: pineapple pepperoni on pizza.

Combining Text Formatting Styles

Discord lets you mix and match formatting styles by nesting symbols. The key is to close them in the same order you opened them (or in reverse).

Here are the most useful combinations:

Pro tip: When combining formats, keep the symbols nested properly. **__text__** and __**text**__ both work, but consistency makes your messages easier to edit.

Headers and Subtext in Discord

Headers help you organize longer messages, announcements, and server rules into scannable sections.

Creating Headers

Use hash symbols at the start of a new line. More hashes mean smaller headers.

# Big Header (H1)

## Medium Header (H2)

### Small Header (H3)

Important: You must include a space between the hash symbol(s) and your text. #Header won't work, but # Header will. Headers must also start at the beginning of a line — you can't create a header mid-sentence.

Headers are essential for server announcements, rule lists, and any message where you need a clear visual hierarchy.

Creating Subtext

Subtext appears smaller and lighter, perfect for fine print, disclaimers, or secondary information.

-# This will appear as subtext

Like headers, subtext requires a space after the # and must start at the beginning of a line.

Lists and Bullet Points in Discord

Lists keep information organized and easy to scan, especially for rules, instructions, or options.

Bulleted Lists

Start each line with a dash or asterisk, followed by a space.

- First item

- Second item

- Third item

or

* First item

* Second item

* Third item

Important: Don't forget the space between the bullet marker (- or *) and your text.

Indented Lists

Add two spaces before the dash or asterisk to create nested items.

- Main item

  - Sub-item

  - Another sub-item

- Next main item

Numbered Lists

Use numbers followed by periods and a space.

1. First step

2. Second step

3. Third step

The numbers don't need to be sequential — Discord will format them correctly regardless. You can indent numbered lists by adding a space before the number.

Code Blocks in Discord

Code blocks are incredibly useful for sharing code snippets, commands, or any text where you want to preserve exact formatting. They're also the gateway to colored text in Discord.

Inline Code Blocks

Wrap text in single backticks for short inline code.

Use `this command` to do something.

Result: Use this command to do something

The backtick key is usually located in the top-left corner of your keyboard, above the Tab key.

Multi-Line Code Blocks

Wrap text in triple backticks for larger code blocks.

\`\`\`

This is a

multi-line

code block

\`\`\`

Everything inside appears in a monospace font within a shaded box, preserving line breaks and spacing exactly as you typed them.

Syntax Highlighting in Code Blocks

Here's where it gets interesting. By specifying a programming language after the first three backticks, Discord will colorize your code based on that language's syntax.

\`\`\`python

def hello_world():

    print("Hello, World!")

\`\`\`

Discord supports hundreds of languages through highlight.js, including Python, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, JSON, and many more.

Important: Syntax highlighting only displays on desktop and web — it does not work on mobile. Mobile users will see the code in plain monospace text without colors.

Colored Text in Discord

Discord doesn't have a built-in colored text feature, but you can create colored text by using code blocks with specific syntax highlighting languages. This works by "tricking" the syntax highlighter into colorizing your text.

Here are the most reliable methods:

Yellow Text

\`\`\`fix

This text appears yellow

\`\`\`

The fix language makes all text yellow by default.

Blue Text

\`\`\`ini

[This text appears blue]

\`\`\`

Using ini syntax with brackets creates blue text.

Cyan Text

\`\`\`yaml

This text appears cyan

\`\`\`

Green Text

\`\`\`css

/* This comment appears green */

\`\`\`

Orange Text

\`\`\`arm

This_text_appears_orange

\`\`\`

Note: Some syntax highlighting colors require text without spaces. You may need to use underscores instead of spaces.

ANSI Color Codes (Advanced)

Discord also supports ANSI color codes within code blocks for more precise color control. This is more technical but offers greater flexibility.

\`\`\`ansi

[0;31mRed text

[0;32mGreen text

[0;34mBlue text

\`\`\`

This method requires copying the escape character (\u001b) and understanding ANSI formatting codes. It's powerful but complex.

Spoiler Tags in Discord

Spoiler tags hide text until someone clicks to reveal it, perfect for plot discussions, surprises, or sensitive content.

How to do it: Wrap text in double vertical bars (pipes).

||This is hidden until clicked||

Result: The text appears blacked out until the reader chooses to reveal it.

Pro tips:

• •
  Spoiler tags also work on images and links. If you wrap a link in spoiler tags, the embed preview will also be hidden.
• •
  You can also type /spoiler before your message to mark the entire thing as a spoiler.
• •
  Note: Spoiler tags are negated by code blocks — text inside code blocks won't be hidden even if you wrap it in ||.

Block Quotes in Discord

Block quotes help you reference other messages, cite sources, or separate quoted content from your own text.

Single-Line Quotes

Start the line with a greater-than symbol followed by a space.

> This is a quoted line

Important: Don't forget the space between the > and your text.

Multi-Line Quotes

Use >>> followed by a space to quote everything that follows in your message until the end.

>>> This entire section

is quoted

across multiple lines

Everything after >>> becomes part of the quote — you don't need to add > to each line.

Links and Mentions in Discord

Masked Links (Hyperlinks)

Create clickable text links by putting the display text in brackets and the URL in parentheses.

[Click here](https://example.com)

Result: The text "Click here" becomes a clickable link.

Safety note: When you click a masked link, Discord shows you the actual URL before navigating, protecting you from deceptive links. Some servers may restrict masked links.

Suppressing Link Embeds

If you want to share a link without the preview embed, wrap it in angle brackets.

<https://example.com>

This is useful when you want to share a URL without the large preview taking up space in the chat.

Mentions

• •
  Users: @username or <@userID> for exact targeting
• •
  Roles: @rolename or <@&roleID>
• •
  Channels: #channel-name or <#channelID>

Discord's autocomplete will help you find users, roles, and channels as you type. To get user, role, or channel IDs, enable Developer Mode in Discord settings (Settings → Advanced → Developer Mode), then right-click the item to copy its ID.

Escaping Markdown Formatting

Sometimes you want to type asterisks or other symbols without triggering formatting. Use a backslash before the symbol to escape it.

\*This won't be italic\*

\*\*This won't be bold\*\*

Result: The asterisks appear as literal characters.

Alternatively, putting text inside a code block prevents all markdown formatting.

Quick Reference Cheat Sheet

Text Styling

Combined Formatting

Organizational Formatting

Code & Links

Important Notes

• •
  Headers and subtext must start at the beginning of a line — you can't use them mid-sentence
• •
  Always include a space after #, ##, ###, -#, >, and list markers (-, *, 1.)
• •
  Syntax highlighting in code blocks only works on desktop and web — not on mobile.
• •
  Spoiler tags are negated by code blocks — text inside code blocks won't be hidden.
• •
  Use backslash (\) to escape formatting — type \*text\* to show literal asterisks

Take Your Discord Community to the Next Level with FirstLook

Mastering Discord formatting is just the beginning. If you're running playtests, managing creator relationships, or building a community around your game, the real challenge is understanding what your community is actually telling you.

FirstLook integrates directly with Discord to help studios track sentiment, manage player relationships, and turn scattered feedback into actionable insights. Instead of manually reading every message, you can see patterns across your entire community.

Ready to see what's really happening in your Discord? Start with FirstLook's free trial now.

Note: This guide is regularly updated to reflect Discord's latest formatting features. Last updated: December 2025.