WhatsApp Text Formatter
WhatsApp accepts a small markdown syntax for bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace. This formatter wraps your text with the correct markers and previews how it will look. Paste, click a style, and copy the result back into a WhatsApp message.
How to format text for WhatsApp
1. Type or paste your message
Drop the message you want to format into the input box. Single line, paragraph, multi-paragraph - anything works.
2. Pick a style button
Click Bold to wrap the text in *asterisks*, Italic for _underscores_, Strikethrough for ~tildes~, or Mono for triple backticks. WhatsApp renders the styling and hides the markers automatically.
3. Use Lists and Quote for structure
Bullets prepends * to every line. Numbered prepends 1. , 2. , etc. Quote prepends > . Lists and quotes render on newer WhatsApp clients (2024 and later); older clients show the markers as text.
4. Preview and copy
The preview box mimics the WhatsApp green-bubble rendering so you can sanity-check before copying. Click Copy and paste the result into a WhatsApp chat.
WhatsApp markdown syntax reference
WhatsApp accepts a small markdown subset. The full list:
| Style | Syntax | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Bold | *text* | bold text |
| Italic | _text_ | italic text |
| Strikethrough | ~text~ | |
| Monospace | ```text``` | monospace |
| Bullet list | * item | • item |
| Numbered list | 1. item | 1. item |
| Block quote | > line | | line |
The markers must wrap around the text with a space (or start/end of line) on either side. *hello world* renders as hello world; he*llo* does not render (the marker is glued to letters on both sides). The formatter handles spacing automatically.
When formatting helps and when it hurts
Group chat announcements
Pinning a key announcement at the top of a group chat? Bold the action and italicize the time so the message scans at a glance: *Meeting moved* to _3 PM today_.
Status updates
Short status messages benefit from bold on the key word: *Done.* Pushed to staging. Long status messages do not, because too much bold reads as shouting.
Code snippets in technical chats
Monospace is essential for command lines, file paths, version numbers, or anything where preserving spaces and unambiguous characters matters: ```npm install```.
Personal messages
Skip the formatting. Heavy markdown in casual chat reads as performative. Reserve emphasis for things that genuinely need it.
Lists and block quotes: when they render
Lists and block quotes are newer WhatsApp features. On modern clients (2024 and later for both iOS and Android), they render visually: bullets get a dot, numbered lists get indented numerals, block quotes get a vertical bar in the chat bubble.
On older clients, the markers (*, 1., >) show up as raw characters. That degrades gracefully (the message is still readable) but does not look pretty.
Defensive default: if you do not know what version your recipient is running, stick to bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace. Those render on every version going back years.
Common formatting mistakes
Marker glued to a letter
WhatsApp ignores markers that are not preceded and followed by a space (or punctuation, or start/end of line). he*llo* renders as the literal string he*llo*; *hello* renders as hello. The formatter inserts spaces around the markers automatically.
Mixing styles in the same word
*_text_* does not produce bold italic. WhatsApp renders the outermost marker and shows the inner one as text. To combine, paste back into the input and apply the second style; the formatter wraps the already-formatted text in the new marker.
Triple backticks across line breaks
WhatsApp's monospace marker is ```text```, single-line. A multi-line monospace block needs the backticks at the start and end of the block, with newlines inside. The formatter does this automatically when you click the Mono button on multi-line input.
WhatsApp Business and broadcast formatting
The same markdown works in WhatsApp Business, broadcast lists, and group chats. Two extra considerations for business use:
Status messages
Status (the 24-hour story-like feature) accepts text with markdown. Format it the same way you would a chat message.
Broadcasts and templates
WhatsApp Business broadcasts and Cloud API templates also accept the markdown syntax. The formatter output is paste-ready for the template editor.
Click-to-chat URLs
If you generate a wa.me link with a pre-filled message, URL-encode the markdown markers (* stays as *, but spaces become %20). The formatter does not handle URL encoding; do that pass separately.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
Does WhatsApp really support bold and italic?
Yes. WhatsApp has supported its own light markdown since 2016: *asterisks* for bold, _underscores_ for italic, ~tildes~ for strikethrough, ```triple backticks``` for monospace. The markers must be wrapped around the text with a space on either side. WhatsApp renders the styling and hides the markers in the chat bubble.
Why does my bold text show the asterisks instead of rendering?
Usually because the asterisks are glued to a letter without a space. WhatsApp only renders *text* when there is whitespace (or punctuation, or start of line) on both sides of the markers. *hello* renders bold; he*llo* renders literal asterisks. The formatter inserts spaces around markers automatically.
Can I combine bold and italic in the same word?
Not natively. WhatsApp renders the outermost marker only, so *_text_* shows as bold _text_ (with literal underscores) not bold italic. To work around this, format to bold first, copy the result, paste back into the input, and apply italic. The doubly-wrapped output renders as both styles on most clients.
Do lists and block quotes work on all devices?
Lists (bullets and numbered) and block quotes are newer WhatsApp features. They render on iOS and Android clients from 2024 onward, and on WhatsApp Web. Older clients show the markers as literal text, which is still readable but not pretty. Stick to bold/italic/strike/mono if you need maximum compatibility.
Does the formatter work for WhatsApp Business?
Yes. WhatsApp Business uses the same markdown syntax as personal WhatsApp. Format your message in the tool, copy, and paste into the Business chat or the broadcast composer.
Does the text leave my browser?
No. The formatter runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your message and the formatted output are never sent to our servers and are not logged.
Why does the preview look slightly different from real WhatsApp?
The preview is an approximation that mimics WhatsApp's rendering. Exact bubble width, font weight, and emoji rendering depend on your phone and OS version. Use the preview to verify what bold/italic/strikethrough will look like; expect minor visual differences from the real chat.
Does the formatting affect WhatsApp character counts?
The markers count against the message length too. *hello* is 7 characters in the underlying message: 2 asterisks plus 5 letters. WhatsApp does not enforce a per-message character cap on chat messages, but if you are passing the formatted output through a broadcast template or click-to-chat URL with a cap, factor in the extra marker characters.
More wordcounter.ai tools
Other tools you might find useful.