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

You can bold and italicize text in your Chat messages. You can also underline text, change text color, and add bullet points.

Format Google Chat messages

  1. Open the Chat app "" or Gmail app .
  2. Go to a conversation.
  3. Enter a message.
  4. On the left, tap Action menu Add and then Format Color text.
  5. Select an option:
    • To bold: Tap Bold Bold.
    • To italicize: Tap Italic Italic.
    • To underline: Tap Underline Underline.
    • To strikethrough: Tap Strikethrough Strikethrough.
    • To change the text color: Tap Text color Color text.
    • To add a bullet point before the text: Tap Bulleted list Bulleted list
  6.  Optional: Touch and hold the word or phrase you can to format and then Format.
Tip: To remove text formatting: 
  1. Touch and hold a word or phrase. 
  2. Tap Format.
  3. Select an option and tap:
    • Bold Bold
    • Italic Italic
    • Underline Underline
    • Strikethrough Strikethrough
    • Text color Color text
    • Bulleted list Bulleted list

Use markdown formatting in Google Chat

Important: If you use the “Format” button on your mobile device to format text, it overrides any markdown formatting you add to the message.

To add markdown formatting to your Google Chat messages, you can include special characters in the text.

  • To bold text, add asterisks * before and after the text you want bolded.
    For example, if you type *Tuesday*, the chat will display Tuesday.
  • To italicize text, add underscores _ before and after the text you want italicized.
    For example, if you type _every week_ , the chat will display every week.
  • To strike through text, add tildes ~ before and after the text you want struck through.
  • To create an inline code block, add backticks ` before and after the text you want in a code block.
  • To create a multiline code block, add three backticks ``` before and after the text you want in a code block.
 
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