Google Hangouts has been upgraded to Google Chat. Learn about the switch from Google Hangouts to Google Chat.

Add formatting to your Google Chat messages

To change the appearance of your Chat messages, use the Format menu or use markdown.

Format Google Chat messages

  1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account
  2. Go to a conversation.
  3. Enter a message.
  4. Highlight the text you want to format.
  5. Click Format "".
  6. Select an option:
    • To bold: Click Bold Bold.
    • To italicize: Click Italic Italic.
    • To underline: Click Underline Underline.
    • To change the text color: Click Text color Color text.
    • To add a bullet point before the text: Click Bulleted listBulleted list.
    • To strikethrough: Click Strikethrough Strikethrough.
    • To insert a link:
      1. Click Insert link Insert link.
      2. Enter the link.
  7. Click Send "".
Tip: To remove a text format, highlight the text and repeat steps 5 and 6.

Use markdown formatting in Google Chat

Important: If you use the “Format” button or keyboard shortcuts to format text, it overrides any markdown formatting you add to the message. If you paste formatted text into Chat, it will keep the copied formatting.

To add markdown formatting to your Google Chat messages, you can include special characters in the text.
Format option Markdown example
Bold *Text*
Italicize _Text_
Strikethrough ~Text~
Inline code block `Text`
Multi-line code block ```Text```

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