How to Format Messages on Slack

Last Updated: March 5, 2020

When sending a message to a Slack member or channel, you can use special characters to format your text. Formatting your text can both improve message clarity and capture the attention of your team. Once you learn how to use Slack’s built-in formatting characters, you’ll be able to easily indent paragraphs, make strings of code appear in a fixed-width font, add hyperlinks, create lists, and apply emphasis to words.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Changing the Appearance of Text

1
Type * on either side of a word or phrase to make it bold. You can use bold text to make text stand out.
- If you wanted the word Important to appear in bold text, you would type: *Important*
- To bold just the words “is the best” in the sentence “wikiHow is the best”, you would type: wikiHow *is the best*
2
Use underscores (_) on either side of the text to show it in italics. Italics can help add emphasis or variance to text. To type an underscore (_), press -+⇧ Shift.
- To make the word Slack appear in italics, type: _Slack_
- To italicize the words “so much fun” in the sentence “Slack is so much fun,” type: Slack is _so much fun_
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3
Type a ~ on either side a word or phrase to strike through text. You can use strikethrough to show a correction or mark a list item as completed.^{[1]
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- If you wanted to correct the spelling of someone who typed “grammer” instead of “grammar,” type: ~grammer~ grammar . The text would appear like this: ~~grammer~~ grammar
4
Use > to indent a line. Type a “>” at the beginning of a line to indent it like a paragraph. Note that instead of adding a few blank spaces before the first word, Slack adds a vertical gray bar^{[2]
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- To indent multiple lines, add a three “>” marks (>>>) to the beginning of the first line. Press ⇧ Shift+↵ Enter after typing the first paragraph to start the next on a new line.
5
Creating a hyperlink to a website. To make it so someone can click the word “wikiHow” and be brought to https://www.wikihow.com, here’s what you’ll type in the message box:^{[3]
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- <https://www.wikihow.com wikiHow>
- Press ↵ Enter to see the clickable link appear. (The result will be a link that looks and behaves like this: wikiHow)
6
Add a backtick (`) before and after a string of text to show it in fixed-width characters. This is handy if you want to distinguish a piece of code in a message by showing it in fixed-width characters.
- To make the words HELLO WORLD appear in fixed-width text in the following sentence “Just type HELLO WORLD”, type: just type `HELLO WORLD`
- Use three backticks (```) before and after a sentence or paragraph to make the entire thing appear in fixed-width text.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using Emoji

1
Click the smiley face button to choose an emoji. This button is located to the right of the message box on the desktop version of Slack. Click on any emoji to make it appear in your message.^{[4]
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- If you’re using a mobile version of Slack, use your device’s emoji keyboard.
2
Click the “Skin Tone” link to set your default skin tone. If you’d like, you can choose from 6 skin tone options to make the default emoji options more personal. You’ll find this link at the bottom right corner of the emoji screen.
3
Use emoji code. If you’re familiar with emoji code, you may prefer to type your emoji choices instead of selecting from a menu.^{[5]
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- Emoji codes are the names of emoji characters surrounded vy colons (:) such as :heart: to show the heart emoji, or :+1: to give a thumbs-up.
- Slack uses standard emoji codes as per the Emoji Cheat Sheet. You can bookmark that site to keep the right emoji code on hand.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Creating a List

1
Type the heading of your list. If you’d like to format your message as a list of items or steps, Slack makes it easy. Start by typing the name of your list in the message box (but don’t send it yet).
- For example, if you wanted to make a list of supplies necessary for a project, you may title the list “Project Needs.” On this line, you’d type: Project Needs
- You create bulleted (•) or numbered lists using this method.
2
Press ⇧ Shift+↵ Enter to create a new line. Now that you typed your list name/heading, use this key combination to open a new line just beneath it. Your first list item will go on this new line.^{[6]
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3
Add a number to the beginning of the first list item. Before typing the first item in the list, type “1.”
- To start with a bullet point (•) instead of a number, press Alt+8 (if you’re using a Mac).
- If you’re using Windows and want to add a bullet point, hold down Alt and as you type the following key sequence: 0, 1, 4, 9
4
Type the first list item after the number or bullet. See these examples:
- 1. Masking tape
- • Masking tape
5
Press ⇧ Shift+↵ Enter to open the next line. Every time you want to add another line to the list, you’ll press ⇧ Shift+↵ Enter to start the next line.
6
Add the next list items. Start with “2.” or a “•” and type the name of the next item in the list. Repeat this process until you’ve entered the final item in the list.
7
Press ↵ Enter to send the list. This will send your completed list to the team or message recipient.