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. On your computer, open Google Chat or Gmail.
   • In Gmail: On the left, click Chat.
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 .
   • To italicize: Click Italic .
   • To underline: Click Underline .
   • To change the text color: Click Text color .
   • To add a bullet point before the text: Click Bulleted list.
   • To strikethrough: Click Strikethrough .
   • To insert a link:
     1. Click 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```

Tips:

• An inline code block wraps the text.
• A multi-line code block keeps the original line breaks and doesn't wrap the text.

Related resources

• Send a direct message
• Edit or delete a message