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How to bold in Discord

Discord text formatting is hidden, but it's not complicated to use.

By Justin Pot · April 26, 2023
The Discord logo, which is a stylized gaming controller with the grips curled down, forming a smile. The logo can also be interpreted as a face.

There are no visible formatting tools in Discord, and yet other users are bolding words. How are they doing that?

It turns out Discord uses a simplified version of Markdown for formatting. To bold text, put it between two pairs of asterisks. Like this:

Discord message composition box with a draft message that reads, "Look I can bold text easily" with two pairs of asterisks bordering the words, "bold text."

Do that, and press enter. Your text will be bolded.

Published message in Discord that reads, "Look I can bold text easily." The words "bold text" are bolded.

That wasn't so hard, was it? Italics and other formatting work similarly. Here are the most common formatting options in Discord using Markdown:

  • For italics, put text between a pair of single asterisks, as in *italics*.

  • For bold, put text between two pairs of asterisks, as in **bold**.

  • For bold italics, put text between two sets of three asterisks, as in ***bold italics***.

There are a few more options, including __underline__and ~~Strikethrough~~.

Discord message that reads "I need to emphasize this point and disregard this one." The words, "emphasize this point" are underlined, and the words "disregard this one" have a strikethrough. Directly beneath the message is the message composition box with the Markdown used to format the text.

Check out Discord's formatting overview to learn more, including how to use code blocks when you need to avoid formatting entirely.

Editor's note: This article was originally published in 2019. Despite wishing it into the ether for the past four years, there are still no formatting tools available in Discord. (We checked.) The good news is that you can still use the simplified version of Markdown to make your sentences stand out.

Related reading:

  • How to automatically convert Markdown to HTML

  • 6 ways to manage your Discord server with automation

  • How to create Discord reaction roles with Zapier

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