How to Bold Text in Discord: A Complete Guide to Markdown Styling

Whether you are trying to emphasize a crucial rule in a gaming guild, make a server announcement pop, or just add a little dramatic flair to your daily chats, knowing how to format your text in Discord is an essential skill.

Discord uses Markdown, a lightweight and easy-to-learn text formatting system. While there are several ways to style your messages—including italics, strikethroughs, and code blocks—making your text bold is by far the most popular and useful way to grab attention.

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about bolding text in Discord, from the basic shortcuts to advanced formatting tricks and hidden features.

The Basics: How to Bold Text

Bolding text in Discord is refreshingly simple. You just need to wrap your words or sentences in asterisks (*) or underscores (_).

Method 1: Using Asterisks (Recommended)

Type two asterisks before and after the text you want to bold, with no spaces between the asterisks and your words.

• What you type: **Hello World**
• What everyone sees: Hello World

Method 2: Using Underscores

Alternatively, you can use two underscores (_) on each side of your text.

• What you type: __Hello World__
• What everyone sees: Hello World

⚠️ Important Caveat: Make sure there are no spaces immediately inside the asterisks or underscores. Typing ** Hello World ** will break the formatting and just display the asterisks as plain text.

Combining Bold with Other Styles

Want to take your Discord formatting to the next level? You can combine bolding with other Markdown styles to create bold italics, bold underlines, or even bold code blocks.

To combine styles, simply nest the symbols inside one another:

• Bold + Italics: Wrap your text in three asterisks (***).
  • Type: ***This is bold and italic!***
  • Result: This is bold and italic!
• Bold + Underline: Combine double underscores with double asterisks or use underline markdown carefully.
  • Type: __**This is bold and underlined!**__
  • Result: This is bold and underlined!
• Bold + Strikethrough: Wrap your text in tildes (~~) and asterisks (**).
  • Type: ~~**This is bold and crossed out!**~~
  • Result: ~~This is bold and crossed out!~~

Pro-Tips and Shortcuts for Power Users

If you type on Discord frequently, memorizing keyboard shortcuts can save you valuable time.

1. The Highlight-and-Format Shortcut (Desktop App)

If you are using the Discord desktop app or web browser version, you don’t even need to type the asterisks manually:

1. Highlight the text you want to bold using your mouse or trackpad.
2. A small floating formatting toolbar will automatically pop up above your text selection.
3. Click the B (Bold) icon, or use the standard keyboard shortcut:
   • Windows/Linux: Press Ctrl + B
   • Mac: Press Cmd + B

2. Partial Word Bolding

Markdown allows you to bold specific parts of a word rather than the whole thing. This is great for creative spelling or highlighting specific syllables.

• Type: un**break**able
• Result: unbreakable

3. Fixing Broken Bold Text (Escaping Markdown)

Have you ever tried typing an asterisk or underscore as normal punctuation (like in math equations or file paths), only for Discord to accidentally bold half your sentence?

You can “escape” Markdown by placing a backslash () right before your symbols. This tells Discord to treat the character as regular text rather than a formatting command.

• Type: **Not bold**
• Result: **Not bold**

Troubleshooting Common Mistakes

If your bold text isn’t working the way you expect, check for these common pitfalls:

1. Accidental Spaces: ** Hello ** won’t work because of the spaces next to the asterisks. Make sure it hugs the text tightly: **Hello**.
2. Mobile Keyboard Auto-Spacing: Many smartphone keyboards automatically insert a space after punctuation. If you type ** and your phone adds a space, backspace it immediately before typing your word.
3. Mismatched Symbols: Make sure you start and end with the same number of symbols. Opening with two asterisks (**) and closing with only one (*) will break the formatting.

Summary Cheat Sheet

| Style | What to Type | Example Output |
| :— | :— | :— |
| Bold (Asterisks) | **text** | text |
| Bold (Underscores) | __text__ | text |
| Bold & Italics | ***text*** | text |
| Bold & Underline | __**text**__ | text |

Now that you’ve mastered the art of bolding text, you’re ready to make your Discord messages stand out in any channel!