How to Bold Text in Discord: Easy Guide

The secret to making your Discord messages stand out isn’t complicated—it all comes down to mastering bold text. Whether you want to emphasize a crucial point in a server announcement, highlight a rule in a community chat, or simply add visual flair to your text, bolding is the most fundamental formatting tool at your disposal.

This guide covers everything you need to know to use bold text effectively in Discord, from basic syntax to advanced combinations.

How to Make Text Bold in Discord

Discord uses a lightweight markup system (similar to Markdown) to style text. To make any word or phrase bold, simply wrap it in double asterisks (**).

• Syntax: **Your text here**
• Result: Your text here

You can apply bolding to a single word, an entire sentence, or even just the middle of a word to draw attention to a specific syllable.

Alternative Method: Underscores

You can also use double underscores (__) to achieve the exact same effect.

• Syntax: __Your text here__
• Result: Your text here

Note: While double underscores work for bold text, single underscores (_) are reserved for italics. Be careful not to accidentally mix them up, or your formatting might not render the way you expect.

Combining Bold with Other Styles

To truly level up your Discord formatting, you can combine bold text with italics, underlines, or strikethroughs.

| Style | Syntax | Result |
| :— | :— | :— |
| Bold & Italic | ***Bold and italic*** or _**Bold and italic**_ | Bold and italic |
| Bold & Underline | __**Bold and underline**__ | Bold and underline |
| Bold & Strikethrough | ~~**Bold and strikethrough**~~ | ~~Bold and strikethrough~~ |

Pro Tips for Discord Formatting

• Mobile vs. Desktop: Discord’s markdown shortcuts work across all platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and web). However, if you prefer not to type symbols manually, desktop users can highlight text to bring up a floating formatting toolbar.
• Escaping Formatting: If you ever need to type literal asterisks without triggering bold text (for example, when explaining these shortcuts), you can “escape” them by placing a backslash () right before the asterisk: **not bold**.