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WhatsApp Text Formatting: How to Bold, Italicize, and Change Message Style

Use WhatsApp’s built-in formatting marks to change text in a message: asterisks for bold, underscores for italics, tildes for strikethrough, and backticks for monospace.
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To change how text looks in a WhatsApp message, put formatting marks around it before sending: use *text* for bold, _text_ for italics, ~text~ for strikethrough, or three backticks on each side for monospace. WhatsApp’s Help Center describes this as formatting text inside messages; it is different from changing chat colors or your phone’s text size.

Format text in a WhatsApp message with symbols

Type the matching marks directly into the message field, with no spaces between the marks and the text you want formatted. For example, enter *hello* to make “hello” bold. The marks are paired: one goes before the text and the other after it.

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Style Type this Result
Bold *text* Bold text
Italic _text_ Italic text
Strikethrough ~text~ Strikethrough text
Monospace ```text``` Monospace text

These formatting marks are documented by the WhatsApp Help Center. The page does not specify an app version or publication date.

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Add lists, quotes, and inline code

WhatsApp also documents these message formats:

  • Bulleted list: Start each line with an asterisk or hyphen followed by a space.
  • Numbered list: Start each line with a number, a period, and a space.
  • Quote: Start the line with > followed by a space.
  • Inline code: Put one backtick on each side of the text.

For example, to create a quote line, type > quoted text. The formatting menu documented for desktop does not list lists or quote blocks as menu options.

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Use the formatting menu on WhatsApp Web or Mac desktop

On WhatsApp Web and the Mac desktop app, double-click text you have entered in the message field and choose a formatting option. The Help Center lists Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, and Inline code for this menu. The newer formatting options on that page are specified for WhatsApp Web and Mac desktop.

Message formatting is not chat appearance or phone text size

Formatting marks change selected text in a message. If you mean the look of a chat—such as its colors or background—use WhatsApp’s separate appearance controls; see How to change app or chat style. If you want larger text across your device, Android display or font size is adjusted through the phone’s settings, as described in WhatsApp’s accessibility information. These settings do not apply bold, italics, strikethrough, or monospace to a particular message.

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