How to write in bold, italics, strikethrough, monospace, lists and quotes in WhatsApp
What we write on WhatsApp doesn’t always have to be in the same text style. The application allows us to write in italics, bold, strikethrough and monospace , to add emphasis and some formatting to our texts, without having to resort to special keyboards .
To format text in WhatsApp you basically have two options: do it using text codes , similar to markdown, or with a context menu. We tell you how to put bold, italics, strikethrough and monospace in WhatsApp, with both methods.
Write on WhatsApp with different styles with codes
If you’re familiar with formatting text using markdown code, WhatsApp supports something similar. Basically, you have to surround the words you want to be formatted in a certain way with special code .
Whatsapp: User guide with tricks, features and tips
As of today, there are some WhatsApp formats that can only be accessed with codes and not with the context menu. These are all the text format codes that WhatsApp currently supports:
Bold : To write in bold, surround the text you want to highlight with asterisks. For example *text* becomes text .
Italics : To write in italics, surround the text you want to highlight with underscores. For example, \_text\_ becomes text .
Strikethrough : To strikethrough text, surround the text you want to highlight with tildes. For example ~text~ becomestext.
Monospaced : To type monospaced text, wrap the text you want to highlight in “`. For example “`text“` becomes texto.
Numbered lists . To create a numbered list, start by typing 1. followed by the first item. For example, 1. Tomato.
Unnumbered lists . To create unnumbered lists, start by typing – or * before each item. For example, * Lettuce.
Code Blocks . Write the code block surrounded by `. For example, the text `console.log(‘hello’)`, becomes console.log(‘hola’).
Direct quotes . To write a direct quote you must start the text with >. For example, > God helps those who get up early.
Nothing stops you from combining these codes to write text in italics, bold, and strikethrough at the same time, although you’ll probably drive yourself crazy along the way. WhatsApp doesn’t include any buttons or methods to make it easier for you to highlight specific text, so you have to do it all manually.
If you don’t remember the specific code for a certain format, no problem. Fortunately, the app included a more visual way to add formatting to text : with a context menu. To do this, you first need to select the piece of text you want to change the format for.
Doing so brings up the typical Android context menu for text selections with options like Copy and Paste, but you’ll notice that Bold is also added. If you tap the button with the three dots, the entire menu will drop down and you’ll see that italics, strikethrough, and monospace are also available.