Discord text formatting
Write the message and copy the markdown. No counting asterisks to work out which one you missed.
Type in the bar at the bottom of the screen. Every style updates as you type. Hit Copy, then paste it wherever you want.
How this works
Discord reads a subset of Markdown, so the editor wraps your selection in the markers Discord recognises and shows the rendered result beside the raw source. Asterisks give bold and italics. Two tildes give strikethrough, two vertical bars give a spoiler, backticks give code, and a right angle bracket starts a quote. What you copy is the raw source, since that is what Discord's own parser expects to receive.
What it cannot do
- Discord supports a subset of Markdown. Tables, images and inline links are not in it, and a link written in Markdown syntax will post as literal text.
- Styled Unicode characters collapse into boxes inside a code block, because Discord renders those in monospace and most styled characters have no monospace form.
Good advice for anyone about to format a Discord message.
The default line is William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. Public domain, like every sample on this site.
Questions people actually ask
- Why not just read the official docs?
- The docs list the syntax and leave the assembly to you. You still write the markers by hand and hope you counted right before you hit send. Here the result renders while you type, so a missed asterisk is visible before anyone else sees it.
- Do styled Unicode characters work inside code blocks?
- No. Discord renders code blocks in a monospace font and most styled characters have no monospace form, so they fall back to empty boxes. Keep plain text inside code blocks.
- How do I write a link with custom text?
- In a normal message you cannot. Markdown link syntax posts as literal text in ordinary messages, and masked links only work inside embeds sent by a bot or a webhook. Paste the raw URL instead.
Where this renders
| Works | Uses long-established Unicode blocks with wide font coverage. | |
| tiktok | Works | Uses long-established Unicode blocks with wide font coverage. |
| discord | Works | Renders normally in messages. Inside code blocks Discord uses a monospace font, so styled characters may fall back to boxes. |
| Mostly | Usually renders, but LinkedIn has filtered unusual characters in some fields before, and styled text is unreadable to screen readers. | |
| X / Twitter | Works | Uses long-established Unicode blocks with wide font coverage. |
These notes are inferred from how each Unicode block behaves, not from a per-platform test run. Treat them as guidance, not a guarantee.
One thing worth knowing
Screen readers announce these characters one by one, or skip them. A profile written entirely in styled text is unreadable to anyone using one. Keep your real name and key information in plain text.
