Discord Text Formatting: Complete Guide to Bold, Italic, Spoilers & More

Discord uses Markdown for text formatting — the same system used by GitHub and Reddit. But most people only know about bold and italic. There's a lot more you can do.

This guide covers every Discord text formatting trick, from basic Markdown to advanced Unicode text effects.

Basic Discord Markdown

Bold

Wrap your text in double asterisks:

**this is bold**

Result: this is bold

Italic

Wrap in single asterisks or underscores:

*this is italic*
_this also works_

Result: this is italic

Bold Italic

Combine them with triple asterisks:

***bold and italic***

Result: bold and italic

Underline

Wrap in double underscores:

__underlined text__

Strikethrough

Wrap in double tildes:

~~crossed out~~

Result: ~~crossed out~~

Bold Underline Italic

You can stack these:

***__bold underline italic__***

Advanced Discord Formatting

Spoiler Tags

Hide text behind a clickable spoiler bar:

||this is a spoiler||

Users must click to reveal the text. Works in messages and even with images.

Block Quotes

Quote someone with the greater-than symbol:

> This is a quote
>>> This quotes everything below

Single > quotes one line. Triple >>> quotes everything that follows.

Inline Code

Wrap in single backticks:

`inline code`

Result: inline code

Code Blocks

Wrap in triple backticks for multi-line code:

```
multiple lines
of code
```

Syntax-Highlighted Code

Add a language name after the opening backticks:

```python
print("Hello Discord!")
```

Supported languages include: python, javascript, java, css, html, bash, ruby, and many more.

Headers

Discord supports headers with hashtags (in messages):

# Big Header
## Medium Header
### Small Header

Lists

Numbered and bulleted lists work:

- item one
- item two
1. first
2. second

Beyond Markdown: Unicode Fonts

Markdown formatting only works inside Discord messages. It doesn't work in:

  • Usernames (display names)
  • Server names
  • Channel descriptions
  • Custom statuses
  • About Me section

For these, you need Unicode text — special characters that look like different fonts. Use YayText's Discord Font Generator to create:

Just type your text, pick a style, copy, and paste into Discord.

Discord Formatting Quick Reference

| What you type | What you get | |---------------|-------------| | **bold** | bold | | *italic* | italic | | ***bold italic*** | bold italic | | __underline__ | underline | | ~~strikethrough~~ | ~~strikethrough~~ | | \|\|spoiler\|\| | spoiler (click to reveal) | | `code` | code | | ``` code block ``` | code block | | > quote | block quote | | # header | header |

Tips

  • Escape formatting with a backslash: \*not italic\* shows as *not italic*
  • Discord-specific: timestamp formatting like <t:1234567890:R> shows relative time
  • Emoji shortcodes: type :smile: to insert emoji without the picker
  • Mentions: <@userid>, <#channelid>, <@&roleid> for mentions

Master Discord formatting to make your messages clearer, more expressive, and more fun. For styles that go beyond Markdown, try YayText.