The Ultimate Guide to Formatting Discord Text
Advanced Discord Server Tips & Tricks
Most people use text channels on Discord to talk to other users. And, these users will probably never need to learn Discord’s Markdown language for text formatting.
However, once you get into managing or participating in larger servers, text formatting can be a really useful tool. It allows you to bold, italicize, strikethrough, quote and even color text.
Basic Text Formatting Styles for Discord
Making Text Italic
Italics can be used to emphasize words or sentences in a Discord Message. To use Italics, wrap your chosen text in a single set of asterisks (*).
I mean, I feel really, *really* strongly about it.
Making Text Bold
Bolding text on Discord is one of the best ways to make a certain part of your message stand out. To use bold text, wrap two sets of asterisks (**) around your chosen text.
**I feel very strongly about this.**
Using Strike-Through Text
Unlike spoiler markers, strikethrough text remains visible,, making it useful for a couple of different situations. It can be used to make a correction, communicate sarcasm or even two differing viewpoints in one message.
To use strikethrough text, wrap a set of double tildes (~) around your selected words.
~~I wanted my ship to sail~~ I wanted payoff for all the setup.
Underlining Text
Underlining certain parts of your text can make it stand out. However, I rarely see it used in servers because the result is a bit ugly.
To underline text on Discord, wrap two underscores (__) around your chosen text.
But this nonsense is __the last straw__ for me.
Adding Spoiler Tags
Spoiler tags can be used to make sure certain plot points aren’t revealed for popular games, movies or books — hence the name. But, they can also be used to emphasize a punchline or censor sensitive content.
When spoiler tags are used,, the actual message will stay hidden unless someone clicks on it intentionally.
To use spoiler tags, wrap two vertical bars (||) around the message you want to hide.
Also, I can’t believe they ||killed off|| my favourite character!
Creating Line Breaks
While typing messages in Discord, you can’t press Enter to jump to the next line. Instead, pressing Enter will send your message. This can be annoying for people who are used to including line breaks this way on other platforms.
If you want to create line breaks in Discord you need to use the Shift+Enter key combination.
Using Block Quotes
Discord Markdown language allows you to quote other users or reference excerpts with blockquotes. Blockquotes can also differentiate large blocks of text.
Now, on Discord there are two kinds of blockquotes; single line and multiple line quotes.
For a single line quote place a greater-than sign (>) at the beginning of your text.
> My writing springs from my love of deep, philosophical contemplation.
For a multiple line blockquote, you would use three greater-than signs (>>>) before your text.
>>> A lot of the time, I use big words to make me sound ostrich but I’m usually not even sure they’re real words. I’m also not even sure if I’m using them right.
Is it they?
Using Code Blocks
A decent portion of Discord’s userbase has some overlap with web developers and code enthusiasts. This is why it’s really handy to know that Markdown enables you to use code blocks.
Code blocks put part of your text inside a block that overrides Markdown styling. This is great if you need to explain Markdown to a new user, enter a block of actual code or are using symbols that activate Markdown styling.
To use code blocks for a single line of text, wrap your message in a set of single grave accents (`).
` This is how you **Bold text** `
To use code blocks for multiline text, wrap your message in a set of three grave accents (```).
```<!DOCTYPE html>
Followed by some other stuff .```
Coloring Text On Discord
Did you know you can color text on Discord? I didn’t know that but now we both do. The one thing to note with colored text is that it requires declaring a specific syntax format at the beginning of a code block.
Because syntax highlighting is more of a workaround than an actual feature and runs into a few issues and clashes with other formatting rules.
Not exactly user-friendly or practical but interesting.
Making Text Red
To make Discord text red, you need to use Diff syntax highlighting.
The entire message needs to be wrapped in triple grave accents (```) with diff written out at the beginning and a hyphen (-) before the message begins.
```diff
-⠀taa daaaa
```
Making Text Light Green/Yellow
Yellow text is a combination of Diff formatting and Fix syntax.
The entire message needs to be wrapped in triple grave accents (```) with diff written out at the beginning and a plus sign (+) before the message begins.
```diff
+⠀Celui-ci est la plus vert
```
Making Text Orange
To make text orange you need to use CSS syntax highlighting.
The entire message needs to be wrapped in triple grave accents (```) with css written out at the beginning and the actual message wrapped in a left ([) and right (]) bracket.
```css
[Orange is the new orange]
```
Making Text Cyan
To make text cyan you need to use JSON or Bash syntax.
The entire message needs to be wrapped in triple grave accents (```) with json or bash written out at the beginning and the actual message wrapped in double quotation marks (“).
```json
“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”
```
Making Text Dark Blue
To make text dark blue you need to use Ini syntax.
The entire message needs to be wrapped in triple grave accents (```) with ini written out at the beginning and the actual message wrapped in a left ([) and right (]) bracket.
```ini
[It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems with just potatoes.]
```
Making Text Yellow
To make text yellow you need to use Fix syntax.
The entire message needs to be wrapped in triple grave accents (```) with fix written out at the beginning.
```fix
Yellow wakes me up in the morning.
```
Merging Different Formatting Styles
If you’re wondering — you can merge formatting elements on Discord.
Here are a few examples:
Underlined And Italicized Text
__*I’m leaning towards Thursday?*__
Underlined And Bolded Text
__**This is a probably a bit aggressive.**__
Underlined, Italicized, And Bolded Text
__***Wow, that’s just, all the formatting.***__
“Escaping” Text Formatting
In case you want to see your underscores or asterisks in a message, without using code blocks, you can use the backslash symbol (\) to overide markdown formatting.
\**Behold! Asterisks abound!**
Final Notes
Markdown text formatting gives you a lot of helpful ways to make your text stand out and keep longer messages readable.
But, I’d also like to note that combining markdown formatting with emojis and unicode symbols can help add that extra something. Especially if you are managing a large server that requires regular announcements.
