WhatsApp offers many features that traditional SMS or iMessage does not offer. Apart from free messaging or calling services without geographical restrictions, all its features are available on all platforms without discrimination based on your operating system or its web client. To highlight parts of a message, you can also use special formatting, a rare feature among messaging apps.
Over the years, WhatsApp has gained many markup features, not only for formatting text but also for creating lists or quoting text. The following sections guide you through the simple steps to format text on WhatsApp to make your messages more structured and compelling.
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How to make text bold in WhatsApp using symbols
There are two ways to add formatting to your WhatsApp texts. The first is to use simple markup notations similar to those in word processors like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Here’s how you can bold, italicize, or strikethrough text messages using symbols.
HAS bold any part of the text, use asterisks ( * ) before and after that part.
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How to Italicize Text in WhatsApp Using Symbols
You can put in italics text using underscore symbols ( _ ) on both sides of the text.
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How to strikethrough text in WhatsApp using symbols
HAS barré part of your text, add the text between two wavy dashes, also called tilde (~), symbols.
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How to Monospace Text in WhatsApp Using Symbols
To change all or part of your message to monospace*, enclose the desired portion between three inverted apostrophes (`). Note that this symbol is different from the standard apostrophe, which is either straight, curly, or forward-leaning.
How to Format Text in WhatsApp Using Quick Buttons
Apart from the standard markup options to bold, italicize, strikethrough or monospace text on WhatsApp, you can use another method as shown below.
Step 1: As you type the message, press and hold to select part you want to format.
Step 2: When you lift your thumb off the screen, a menu will appear. You can then tap the bold or italic options to change the text accordingly. On a desktop computer, you can also use keyboard shortcuts such as Ctrl + B (or Command + B) to format the text directly.
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Step 3: Tap the three-dot button to access other options such as strikethrough and minivan.
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Apart from the standard formatting features, WhatsApp has recently added the ability to create numbered or bulleted lists in messages using markup text similar to the first method we described above. Additionally, you can use advanced formatting options like indent and show code on WhatsApp by following the simple steps listed below.
Step 1: To start a bulleted liststart a new line with an asterisk ( * ) or a dash ( – ).
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Step 2: For a numbered list, simply start a new line with a number followed by a period followed by a space, just like in a Word document. For example, start a new numbered list with “1.” Now, when you press Enter to start a new line, the number will automatically increment.
If you just want to type these characters without converting them to a list, just press backspace and WhatsApp will convert them back to normal text.
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Step 3: To display text as a quote, add a greater than symbol ( > ) to the beginning of a new line followed by the desired text.
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Step 4: Finally, to highlight special text as code, simply surround the text with two single quotes (`) on each side.
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With these simple steps, you can easily organize the flow of information in your messages. Whether you’re sending an important business message or simply writing a list for an upcoming trip, these formatting options can come in handy. Best of all, they display consistently across all platforms, whether you’re using WhatsApp on mobile, desktop, or the web app.
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