Discord Text Formatter

How to use it

1. Type or paste your message into the box. A sample announcement is already there.
2. Select a word and click Bold, Italic, Underline, Strike, Spoiler or Code. For lines, click Heading, Small, Quote or List.
3. Use Link to turn the selection into a masked link. Check the preview, and click a spoiler to reveal it.
4. Press Copy message and paste it into Discord. Discord does the final rendering, so the preview is a close guide only.

How Discord formatting works

Discord uses a small version of Markdown. You type a few symbols around your words, and the app turns them into bold, italics, spoilers and so on. There is no formatting toolbar in the message box, so you either remember the symbols or use a helper like the formatter above.

The buttons wrap your selected text in the right symbols. Heading, Small, Quote and List add a prefix to each selected line. The preview is a close approximation. Discord is the final judge, so send a test message if the formatting matters.

The syntax cheat sheet

Discord's own help article, "Markdown Text 101", describes subtext as a -# prefix with a space after the symbol, masked links as bracketed text followed by a URL in parentheses, and block quotes with a > prefix. A >>> prefix quotes everything that follows in the message.

Worked example: a game night announcement

This is the sample text loaded in the tool:

# Game night
Doors open at **8 PM**. Bring *snacks*, not ||spoilers||.
> Last time we ran out of ~~pizza~~ chairs.
-# Reply here if you can make it

It renders as a large heading, a line with "8 PM" in bold, "snacks" in italics and a hidden spoiler, a quoted line with "pizza" crossed out, and a small muted reply request at the bottom. Four lines, six styles, no bot needed.

If you add a time, pair this tool with the Discord timestamp generator so "8 PM" shows in every reader's own time zone.

Step by step: formatting a message

1. Type the plain message first. Format afterward, so you do not lose track of symbols.
2. Select the exact words. A button with nothing selected inserts empty symbols, which you then fill in.
3. Click one button for each style. Bold and italic can be combined by clicking both on the same selection.
4. For line styles, put the cursor on the line, or select several lines, and click Heading, Small, Quote or List.
5. Read the preview. Look for stray asterisks, which mean a pair is not closed.

Common mistakes

No space after the prefix

Headings, subtext, quotes and lists need a space after the symbol. #Title stays as plain text. # Title becomes a heading. The same goes for -#, > and -.

Unclosed or mixed-up pairs

Every opening symbol needs a matching closing one on the same side of the words. **bold* will not work. Count them if the output looks wrong.

Formatting inside code

Inside inline code or a code block, Discord shows symbols as typed. If you want a bold word, keep it outside the backticks.

A symbol you want to show as text

Put a backslash in front of it. \*not italic\* shows asterisks without italics. This is handy for usernames with underscores, such as my\_name.

Headings and the user's client

Headings, subtext and lists are newer additions to Discord markdown. If a member sees raw # or -# symbols, their app is probably out of date. Ask them to update.

Masked links

Include the full address with https://. Where masked links work can vary by client and by who posts the message, so test in a private channel first. Never hide a different address behind innocent words: members see through it, and it breaks trust fast.

Combining styles

Styles stack. Wrap a word in ||**text**|| and it is a bold spoiler. Put __**text**__ on a line and it is bold and underlined. Start a line with > and then use bold inside the quote. Keep the order tidy: close the symbols in the reverse order you opened them, like nested brackets.

A heading line can carry bold or a link too, but too much on one line is hard to read on a phone. Two styles per line is a sensible limit.

Line breaks

Press Shift+Enter for a new line inside a message on desktop. Enter alone sends it. List items, quotes and headings each need their own line, which is why the formatter adds the prefix to every selected line.

Length limits

A normal message holds 2000 characters. Symbols count toward that limit, so a long, heavily formatted rules post may need to be split across two messages.

Where each style helps a server

• Rules channel: headings for sections, lists for the rules, bold for the consequences.
• Announcements: a heading, one bold line with the key fact, subtext for the small print.
• Spoilers: hide quiz answers, plot details and game results.
• Support channels: code blocks for logs and commands, so spaces and line breaks survive.
• Giveaways: bold for the prize, a countdown from the timestamp generator, and a quote for the rules.

Looking for color? Markdown has none. The Discord colored text generator builds ANSI code blocks instead, which have limits of their own.

Sources

• Discord Support: Markdown Text 101 (Chat Formatting: Bold, Italic, Underline): subtext, masked links, block quotes and the core syntax.
• Discord Developer Documentation, API Reference: message formatting reference.

Checked October 2026.