If you like things with a little extra flair, you’ll enjoy our WhatsApp text formatting tips, which can turn any boring fragment into a captivating and well-structured message. These text tricks will help you capture and direct your recipients’ attention, highlight certain words, and make your messages seem more sophisticated and unforgettable.
Overview of WhatsApp text formatting options
There are several ways to control the appearance of your text in WhatsApp, thanks to both built-in tools and third-party solutions. Below, we’ll give you an overview of what you can achieve, but that’s not all.
You can diversify your text by using the following styles:
- bold type
- italics
- crossed out
- monospaced
- cartoons
- List with numbers
- quotes
- online code
Plus, there are countless custom WhatsApp fonts you can use to make your text look bolder, whimsical, or elegant.
How to format text in WhatsApp
Changing the look of your WhatsApp message is now easier than ever: the most essential formatting options are hidden just a couple of taps away. Here’s how to access them.
Special characters for WhatsApp text formatting
Changing the look of your text in WhatsApp is pretty straightforward once you know the special characters you need to use:
- To italicize your text, enclose it in underscores: _text_ → text
- To make your text bold, enclose it in asterisks: *text* → text text
- To cross out your text, write it between accents: ~text~ → text text
- To write in monospace, place three grave accents on each side of the text:
```text →texto - To quote text, place an angle bracket and a space in front: > text → | text
- To add inline code, enclose it in grave accents: `text` → text
To add a bulleted list to your message, add an asterisk or hyphen and a space before each word or line, like this:
* text
* text
To add a numbered list to your message, add a number, a period, and a space before each word or line, like this:
1. text
2. text
These WhatsApp text tricks will help you organize large chunks of text and give them a clear visual hierarchy.
WhatsApp shortcuts for text formatting
It’s true that adding all those additional symbols to your text can be tricky. But for simple edits, you can take advantage of WhatsApp’s built-in shortcuts, which make writing in bold or italics much easier.
Simply type your message, select the text you want to format, click the three-dot icon, and some editing options will appear. This is the fastest way to write in bold or italics in WhatsApp and use other formatting options like strikethrough or monospace.
Emoji keyboard tools for text formatting in WhatsApp
This is a less obvious but no less intuitive method of formatting WhatsApp text, and it’s ideal for those who regularly need to use creative fonts. Some emoji keyboards, which often come pre-installed on Android and iOS, have a surprising number of built-in formatting tools and text styles.
You can usually access the settings panel with a single click and find a ton of useful settings, including languages, themes, and font styles. It’s also often possible to customize the panel.
For example, with this Emoji keyboard for Android, all you have to do is click “Font” to get a variety of cool WhatsApp font styles below your text field. Tap the style you like and type your message as usual—everything you enter will be styled accordingly.
Emoji keyboards can provide you with dozens of cool fonts for WhatsApp that are appropriate for the language you type in. If your device doesn’t have one, you can find several emoji keyboards on Google Play or the App Store and install them with a single click. To find the version with the widest collection of font styles, search specifically for “Emoji keyboard fonts” in your app marketplace.
With this method, you can always revert to the default text style or hide the font panel entirely.
How to write in bold on WhatsApp
Bold text is perfect for drawing attention to specific words or letters within a message. This style can also be used to highlight headlines and subheadings, guiding the reader through a large piece of text.
To make your text bold in WhatsApp, place an asterisk on either side:
*text* → text
You’ll see the appearance of your text change as you type, so you can check the formatting before clicking “Send.”
You can also use WhatsApp shortcuts: long-press on the text and select bold from the pop-up menu.
How to write in cursive on WhatsApp
Italicized text is often used to emphasize or contrast. It helps draw the reader’s attention to a specific part of a text or sentence. You can also use italics in WhatsApp to quote foreign words or phrases.
To write in italics on WhatsApp, place an underscore on both sides of the text:
_text_ → text
Another way to italicize text is to long-click on it and choose Italic from the pop-up menu.
How to underline text in WhatsApp
There’s no easy way to underline text in WhatsApp, nor does simply copying and pasting it from Google Docs work. The only way to do this is to use third-party apps that generate underlined text using Unicode characters .
In this example, we use YayText to underline our text.
The results can be easily copied and pasted into the Messenger text field. This is the closest thing to mimicking the classic underline in WhatsApp, and should be sufficient for most cases.
How to cross out text in WhatsApp
Strikethrough is useful when you need to demonstrate revisions, mimic censorship, or highlight a change of opinion, outdated information, or a controversy. It can be used to indicate to others what has been removed or needs to be removed from the text.
To cross out text in WhatsApp, place accents around the text:
~text~ →text
You can also select the text, click the three-dot icon in the pop-up menu, and choose strikethrough.
How to find and use cool fonts for WhatsApp
What if the default styles aren’t enough? In that case, you can try apps that give you access to more unique, creative fonts combined with emojis, symbols, and ASCII characters. These trendy fonts are often mobile-friendly and can be copied and pasted directly into WhatsApp.
For example, the Fonts for WhatsApp website lets you go beyond the styles offered by any standard emoji keyboard.
To find truly quirky, mysterious, and fun fonts to express your individuality and support your brand identity, type “WhatsApp fonts” into your browser’s search box. Then, choose the style you like, enter your text, and copy the formatted version.
To conclude
Creating compelling messages that captivate your customers isn’t just a matter of writing emotive and persuasive text; it also involves playing with text formatting and letting users know which elements they should pay attention to. WhatsApp is such a versatile tool that it allows you to create a wide variety of different messages. And we guarantee you’ll be able to create the perfect message for your business.
