I was a complete newbie back then when I joined my first Discord channel.

People were typing in underlines, bolded letters, strikethrough text, italics, and even colors within the Discord chat! "How can people use colors in Discord messages?" I thought.

What Discord command(s), did people use to format their text so elegantly?

This guide will walk you through Discord text formatting. We'll show you how to color text, bold it and italicize it.

You Can Learn Awesome Discord Text Formatting

If you're reading this, it's likely that you've been that guy/gal (or you're trying not to be disappointed and become a Discord text formatting wizard!)

Regardless of your preference, I will show you how to use Discord App's various formats.

You'll learn about Discord's formatting engine (Markdown & Highlight.js), and basic formatting commands (bolding. italicizing. underlining. etc. You'll also learn how to write text in boxes and code blocks in color!

This Page Can Be Saved as a Reference

Once you know the basics, Discord formatting is easy.

While you're still learning the commands though, it may be a good idea to keep this page open for reference (or bookmarked).

Let's not go on, let's get to the formatting!

Behind the scenes: Discord’s Text Formatting Engine

While we chat on Discord, day after day, a sleek engine works in the background to format all of our text.

This "engine," is called Markdown.

The Rundown of Markdown

Originally created in 2004 by John Gruber and Aaron Swartz, Markdown is a markup language designed to be lightweight and simple to read/write. It's entirely text-based, and uses cleverly placed symbols for formatting words in bold, italics or underlined.

It is most commonly used for forum discussions, formatted readme files, and to convert plain text into rich text using basic text editors. Discord's developers however saw the potential of this tool and included it in their core software.

In the next section, we'll be discussing Discord Markdown so you can learn how you can properly format your messages in any way that you like.

Highlight.js Makes Color Possible

Before we get into Markdown, I want you to know about another cool feature the Discord developers added. It's a library called Highlight.js.

Now, I want it to be clear that Discord doesn’t have true full text highlighting. You cannot say, "I would like this word to appear in red and this one in blue!" This kind of highlighting is not possible.

The only thing that is available for text-coloring purposes is a "hacked” version of text highlight using syntax coloring methods found at highlight.js.

Even though we are unable to highlight text directly, Discord code blocks can be created, pointing it towards a particular syntax highlighting profile found in highlight.js. We can then use that profile to our benefit by wrapping our text with the appropriate symbols.

This will all make sense when you see some of the juicy examples below.

Keep This in Mind Going Forward

You don't have to remember all those nitty-gritty details. Discord uses Markdown as its text formatting, and Highlight.js as code block highlighting.

In the next section, you'll learn how to take advantage these formatting options.

Discord: How to format text

Now it's time to have some fun. I'm going to show you how to bold, italicize, underline, and strikethrough text as a starting point.

We'll start by learning the basics, then move on to creating code blocks that allow text coloring.

How to create discord bold text

To create bolded discord text, all you need to do is to start and finish the bolded texts with two (*). asterisks.

The asterisk is Shift+8 on your keyboard.

You'll see in the image below that I added two stars or asterisks before and after the text I wanted in bold.

Here's my input and the result:

How to Italicize Text (Create Slanted Discord Italics).

You will need to type the asterisk again in order to create Discord italic text. However, this time, only one asterisk is required.

Two asterisks were used to bold text. For example, **bold text**

For italics, we would do the same thing but with one single asterisk: *italicized text*

The asterisk (star), is again SHIFT+8 on the keyboard.

Here's how I typed it to get the image below.

How to Create Bold Italic Text in Discord (Bold + Italics)

You might have been able to guess what the markdown was for Bold + Italics by now...

Instead of just one or two, it's now three.

How to create underlined text in Discord

To format our text as underlined, we need two use two underscores (__)

This guide is meant to be comprehensive. Below, I have included the keyboard layout to create an underscore. ):

I typed this to get the result below:

How to Create Discord Strikethrough a Text

To strikethrough text, you will need to use tilde (), the key.

Two tildes cross over, or'strike thru', the text that you type.

Here's the keyboard layout with yellow highlighted keys for typing a "tilde". You have to hit SHIFT + ~.

Here's what I wrote below:

Formatting International Keyboard Layouts

A reader recently pointed to the fact that international keyboard layouts must be considered. We assume that the asterisk will be "Shift+8" with the tilde "Shift+Backtick (`)",." But this is not always the case.

Here are some keyboard layouts that international users may encounter. Also, an example of where the asteris would be on each of them.

German: Shift +[+]

If you use one of these keyboard layouts, feel comfortable to adjust.

The vast majority of users use the standard English keyboard. We did this because it is the most common, but we also wanted to acknowledge other layouts and that you can do all of these things regardless of what your layout may be.

Combining Text Formatting Options even Further

You can also combine bold, italics and bold+italics the underline.

Here's an example.

Text in italicized and underlined

Underlined and Bolded Text

Bolded, Italicized, or Underlined Text

How to 'Escape' Text and See All Your Underscores and Asterisks

If you really want to see your underscores, asterisks (e.g. in an emoji), then you can use the backslash key '' to skip markdown formatting. This will show the text exactly as it is.

Take a look at this example (notice the backslashes "" at the beginning of each character).

You will need to backslash because I have underscored my message.

But notice that the backslashes at the end actually aren't required if you have them all in the beginning:

If I didn't have underscores, a single backslash '\' would do:

That's it for Basic Formatting

And that's it for basic formatting. It's quite simple, and you should be able to do it after a few messages.

The only keys you have to remember are Underscores, Asterisks (Stars), and Backslashes.

Discord Spoiler Tag

If you're looking to post a spoiler, or something that your channel shouldn’t see immediately (unless you choose to remove it), you can use Discord spoiler tags.

You can create spoiler text such as:

All you need to do is cover the spoiler with double bars or double-pipe characters.

This will look like this if it is blocked:

And then once revealed, your channel will see this:

Discord Quote/Blockquote Tag

Discord has a simple tag called "quote/blockquote" that allows you to quote something.

You can do this by simply adding the right-carat character '>':

After being typed in Discord, it will look like this:

You can also quote multiple lines by using the triple right-carat '>>>', or by typing out a line with a single quote '>' and then holding SHIFT+ENTER to create a new line within the same quote block.

Advanced Text Formatting in Discord: Writing in Color

Now comes the fun part... formatting discord messages in color!

Once you start getting some colorful messages out there in the channels you frequently visit, you'll start getting asked how it's done.

We'll cover the basics (code blocks), before we move on to coloring your messages. Let's get to it!

Discord: Single Line Code Blocks

You can create a single-line code block in discord by using the 'tick or 'backtick characters:.

Since this key can be a difficult key to find if you've never had to use it before (up until this point), I included a nice highlighted keyboard layout diagram below:

The 'tick or backtick' characters should appear in the upper right corner of your keyboard, just under the escape key (ESC).

Once you're familiar with the 'backtick' key, let's create a single line code block. You only need to add a single backtick between your text and the next.

Here's my example:

Multiple Line (Multiline) Code Blocks in Discord

Multi-line code blocks use the same backtick ("`) characters as the single-line block. The only difference between the two is that you need to write three before, and after, your text.

It's easy to press enter and space text across multiple lines. They are all formatted in the same multi-line code blocks.

Here's the markdown for the example below:

The image above shows that all of our text is in a block of code, but it's on multiple lines as we intended.

How to Format Colored Text in Discord

We are now at the moment we have all been waiting for... [drumroll]... Colored text!

I was searching around the web for a good example of some colored text formatting in Discord, but couldn't find anything clear.

Although there were some examples, they were not very clear. I could not find any guide that showed me how to format text in a particular color.

We are essentially hacking syntax highlight

As I mentioned in the intro, what we're going to be doing here is 'hacking' or 'hijacking' syntax highlighting from Highlight.js running in the background in Discord.

We have to do this because, as of writing this, Discord doesn't have built-in text highlighting functions.

We'll need to find a way around this problem, but it doesn't matter if it works.

Here's How Text Coloring in Discord Works

Here's how it works, since we'll be using a workaround that uses Highlight.js.

We will create multiline code blocks with three backticks, and specify the syntax highlighting language.

We can do this by including the highlighting programming language reference right at the beginning of the multiline code block.

Just like this, for example. We are using 'Apache" as the syntax highlighting languages.

We'll "exploit" syntax highlighting to color some text.

I have included the majority of the colors you would expect to use, and tried to show differences between language references.

What key are we using for Discord text coloring?

We are using the "backtick" keyboard character. It is located in the upper left corner, just above the TAB key.

The backtick on macOS and Scandinavian keyboard layouts is located in upper-right corner, right next the "BACKSPACE” button.

Limitations to this Text Coloring Method

Unfortunately, this method has some limitations. The most common limitation to this method is that your text must be connected in a single word in any syntax highlighting languages. ).

This means you can't write: This is a sentence.

You will need to type: This_is_a_sentence or Thisisasentence

Why is this happening? Well, since we're exploiting syntax highlighting to highlight our Discord messages, we're basically trying to make the multiline code block think that our message is literal programming code.

Variables are where we find the colors we want. They can't contain spaces by definition.

One place this does work well is in code comments and strings. I tried to include code comments and strings in each of the colors below as frequently as possible (to make it easy to type out).

If you pay attention, you'll see I did include variables. I also mentioned that spaces cannot be used if you use those formatting methods. This may still be an acceptable method for single words.

Okay, enough yapping - let's get coloring!

How to Color Text RED in Discord

Diff Syntax Highlighting in Red (EASY).

Include dashes (-) before the line you want red-colored text.

CSS Syntax Highlighting Orange (Red Orange)

Use brackets [ ] to highlight the text.

How to Color Text YELLOW in Discord

Fix Syntax Highlighting for yellow (EASY).

Fix automatically makes everything yellow. This is a great way to have yellow text.

Yellow Highlighting of Apache Syntax

To highlight your text yellow using Apache syntax, add a percent sign with right curly brace % at the start and a percent sign with right curly brace % at the end.

How to Color Text GREEN in Discord

Diff Syntax Highlighting Light Green

Add a (+ sign) before the line you want to turn green.

CSS Syntax Highlighting for Light Green

Use quotation marks "" around the text that you want to be colored Light Green.

Bash Syntax Highlighting for Dark Green (EASY)

Quotation marks in your text "

Note: The dark green color and the quotation marks around your text work in many other reference languages than "bash". It works with "coffeescript", "cpp", and many more.

JSON Syntax Highlighting Dark Green with EASY

Just like in Bash, quotation marks around the text you want to color dark green.

How to Color Text BLUE in Discord

INI Syntax Highlighting for Blue

Use brackets [ ] to highlight the text in blue.

CSS Syntax Highlighting (Limitation: NO SPACES)

Put a single dot (.) You must place a single dot (..) before the text you want blue.

Takeaways from Color Formatting

As you've probably noticed, there are limitations to using this method (such as having to type no spaces for certain colors).

It is important to remember that we can still color our text fairly easily.

I would recommend using the DIFF and BASH, FIX and CSS highlighting to highlight red, green, yellow, or blue.

In either case, these examples show you how to use the primary syntax highlight colors in your messages.

Discord Font Formatting

Is it possible to create custom Discord font formats within the Discord App? The answer is yes, although it may be a bit "finicky" at times due to the font limitations within Discord.
Discord-servers

You can use Lingojam font generation service to create the fonts of your choice.

I tried pasting a few of these fonts into Discord, and while it appeared to work for the cursive-looking fonts, it didn't work for the "block" font since Discord turned the "O" characters into an emoji:

The main takeaway here is... it is absolutely possible to format custom fonts within Discord, but you may encounter issues depending on the fonts you choose.

It has also been reported that this doesn't work for long sentences. So be aware of font issues when writing long strings of words.

It's possible to still format text in short sentences or titles, so you can use your own fonts.

Markdown Text 101 - Digging Deeper

If you want to dig into Discord Markdown even further and learn some more tips/tricks, then these are a few very helpful resources you can't miss.

The Markdown Tutorial

My favorite Markdown learning resource, "The Markdown Tutorial", is very simple. It walks you through Markdown step to step, providing both instructions and live output of the final product. This is a neat learning tool that I'd definitely recommend diving into for some deeper learning.

The Markdown Cheatsheet

Once you've gone through some markdown tutorials and just want a quick reference to look back on, there's this awesome Markdown Cheatsheet that lists every single type of formatting you'd encounter.

The Official Discord Markdown Guide

And finally, there's the Official Markdown Guide from the Discord Team (it's on the discordapp.com website). It covers everything we talked about in this guide (with regards to chat formatting), but it doesn't go into as much detail about how we actually get each type of color. It can still be useful if you need a quick refresher.

Now it is your turn

Now it's your turn - format/color some text!

This page can be saved as a bookmark for future reference. Good luck, and have fun!