Alexis Kestler
WhatsApp is a popular messaging app owned by Meta that allows users to send messages, photos, videos and make voice and video calls for free. It has over 2 billion users worldwide across Android and iOS devices.
One of the handy features of WhatsApp is the ability to format text in different ways, such as bold, italics, strikethrough, and monospace. This allows you to emphasize certain words, make them stand out, or differentiate types of text.
In this comprehensive guide, you‘ll learn how to format text to be bold, underlined, in italics, strikethrough, or monospaced in WhatsApp chats on both Android and iOS devices.
How to Make Text Bold on WhatsApp
To make text bold in WhatsApp, simply add asterisks * on both sides of the word or sentence you want to be bold.
For example:
*This text is bold*
Will become:
This text is bold
It‘s that simple! The asterisks tell WhatsApp to display the text in between in a bold font. This is great for making key points or highlights stand out in your messages.
Here are some other examples of bold text in WhatsApp:
*Remember to bring snacks for the party tomorrow!*
Remember to bring snacks for the party tomorrow!
*The deadline has been extended to Jan 20th*
The deadline has been extended to Jan 20th
You can make multiple words or even entire sentences bold by adding asterisks around them.
How to Underline Text on WhatsApp
Unlike bold, italics or strikethrough, WhatsApp does not have a built-in feature to underline text. However, there are couple easy workarounds:
Use third-party apps or sites:
-
YayText – This website lets you generate underlined text styles which you can simply copy and paste into your WhatsApp messages.
-
FancyFonts – Another website with various text generators including underlined styles to use in WhatsApp.
Add dashes underneath the text:
Since WhatsApp doesn‘t allow true underlining, you can manually add dashes underneath the text to mimic an underline effect, for example:
This is underlined text
It‘s a bit manual but gets the job done if you need to underline something in WhatsApp.
How to Italicize Text on WhatsApp
To italicize text on WhatsApp, simply add underscores _ on either side of the word or sentence:
For example:
_This text is in italics_
Will appear as:
This text is in italics
The underscores tell WhatsApp to render the text in between in italics. Some use cases for italics:
_Emphasizing a point_
Emphasizing a point
_Titles of creative works like books or films_
Titles of creative works like books or films
_Foreign words_
Foreign words
You can italicize multiple words, sentences, or even entire paragraphs by adding underscores around them.
How to Strikethrough Text on WhatsApp
To strikethrough text on WhatsApp, add tildes ~ on both sides of the text:
For example:
~This text is struck through~
Will appear as:
~This text is struck through~
The tildes indicate the text in between should have a strikethrough line through the middle.
Some cases when you may want to use strikethrough:
- Crossing out incorrect information or typos
- Marking tasks as completed on a to-do list
- Indicating something is no longer relevant or out of date
For example:
Here is my to-do list:
~Submit project report~
Call Sam about the presentation
~Ask Susan about the specifications~
How to Make Monospaced Text on WhatsApp
You can convert text into a monospaced font on WhatsApp by putting three backticks “` around it:
For example:
“`This text is monospaced“`
Will appear as:
This text is monospaced
Monospaced fonts have each letter taking up the same amount of horizontal space. This can be useful for formatting:
- Code snippets
- Formatting tables
- Poems or lyrics to align vertically
For example:
“`
def sum(x, y):
return x + y
“`
Would format a code snippet properly:
def sum(x, y):
return x + y WhatsApp Text Formatting Cheat Sheet
Here‘s a quick summary of how to format text in WhatsApp:
| Format | Syntax | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Bold | text | Hello World |
| Italics | text | Hello World |
| Strikethrough | ~text~ | ~Hello World~ |
| Monospace | “`text“` | “`Hello World“` |
| Underline | Use third-party generator | N/A |
Limitations and Workarounds
WhatsApp only supports bold, italics, monospace, and strikethrough formatting. For other text styles like underline, different font sizes or fonts, you‘ll need to use a third party website or app to generate the styled text, then copy and paste it into your WhatsApp messages.
Some popular text generator tools include:
- YayText – Generates styled text like bold, italics, underline, fonts
- FancyFontGenerator – Create fancy, cursive, handwriting or foreign language styles
- FontGenerator – Choose from over 90 fonts
These can expand your formatting options beyond the built-in WhatsApp features.
Tips for Formatting WhatsApp Messages
Here are some tips for using text formatting effectively in your WhatsApp conversations:
- Use formatting to highlight important information
- Avoid overusing multiple formats which can look messy
- Be consistent with formatting within a message
- Use bold for key points, italics for emphasis
- Strikethrough outdated info, monospace for code
- Break up big blocks of text with line breaks
- Test formatted messages before sending
Proper use of formatting makes your messages clearer and easier to read.
Conclusion
WhatsApp provides several handy options for formatting your text – bold, italics, strikethrough, and monospace. While it lacks underlining, you can workaround using third-party text generators. Use formatting appropriately to enhance your messages. That covers the main ways to format text in WhatsApp!
