WhatsApp formatting, at a glance
WhatsApp formats text with ordinary characters typed around the words. You can type them yourself, or select words above and press a button.
| Style | Type | Shows as |
|---|---|---|
| Bold | *text* | text |
| Italic | _text_ | text |
| Strikethrough | ~text~ | |
| Monospace | ```text``` | text |
| Inline code | `text` | text |
| Bulleted list | - text or * text, at the start of a line | • text |
| Numbered list | 1. text, at the start of a line | 1. text |
| Quote | > text, at the start of a line | text |
Why formatting sometimes doesn't work
A space next to the character. *bold* works and * bold * doesn't: the characters have to touch the words. The toolbar keeps spaces outside them for you.
Inside a word. A character in the middle of a word, like the underscores in file_name_v2, is left alone. Formatting has to start at the beginning of a word.
Across a line break. Bold, italic and strikethrough end at the end of a line. To format several lines, format each one; the toolbar does that when you select more than one line. Monospace is the exception and may span lines.
An old app. Lists, quotes and inline code arrived in WhatsApp in 2024. Someone on an out-of-date app sees the characters as you typed them.
Formatting messages you send from code
The formatting characters are plain text, so they work the same in a message sent by an API. ChatRail sends the text exactly as you give it, up to 4,096 characters a message. Copy as API request gives you the message as the body of a send request, with the quotes and line breaks already escaped for JSON:
POST /v1/messages/text
{ "connection": "main", "to": "15551234567", "body": "*Order 2048* is out for delivery.\nArriving _today_ by 6 pm." }The quickstart sends your first one in about ten minutes, and the free Sandbox includes 500 messages a month.
Questions
Is this WhatsApp text formatter free?
Yes. There's no sign-up and no limit, and the text you type stays in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Why does the copied text have asterisks and underscores in it?
That's how WhatsApp formatting works: the characters around a word are the formatting. Paste the text into WhatsApp and send it, and the other person sees bold or italic text, not the characters.
Does it work in WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Web?
Yes. The same characters work in the phone app, the Business app, WhatsApp Web and the desktop app.
Can I combine styles?
Yes. Put one inside the other: *_bold and italic_*. Monospace and code are the exception: nothing inside them is formatted.
Can I change the font, size or colour?
No. WhatsApp only offers the styles on this page. "Fancy font" generators swap your letters for look-alike symbols, which screen readers read out as gibberish and search can't match, so this tool doesn't do that.