Discord uses a version of Markdown to format messages, and once you know the syntax you can make announcements, rules, and everyday chat far more readable. The catch: Discord’s dialect has a couple of quirks that differ from standard Markdown. This guide covers every option — and if you’d rather see your text rendered before you send it, the Discord Markdown formatter shows a live, Discord-styled preview as you type.
Bold, Italic, and Both
The emphasis syntax matches standard Markdown:
**bold text**
*italic text*
***bold and italic***Bold is two asterisks, italic is one, and three asterisks combine them. You can also use a single underscore for italic (_italic_) — but be careful with double underscores, which do something different in Discord.
Underline — the Big Gotcha
In most Markdown, __text__ (double underscore) means bold. In Discord, it means underline:
__underlined text__This is the single most common surprise for people coming from GitHub or other Markdown tools. If you want bold, always use double asterisks — never double underscores.
Strikethrough
Wrap text in double tildes:
~~struck through~~Spoiler Tags
Discord’s most distinctive feature. Wrap text in double pipes and it appears as a blacked-out box that readers click to reveal:
||this is a spoiler||Perfect for plot twists, answers, or anything you don’t want visible at a glance. In the live formatter, you can click the spoiler in the preview to test the reveal.
Inline Code and Code Blocks
Backticks create inline code, and triple backticks create a fenced block with optional syntax highlighting:
Here's some `inline code`.
```js
const greeting = "Hello, Discord!";
console.log(greeting);
```Add a language name after the opening triple backticks (like js or python) for colored syntax highlighting.
Quotes and Headings
A > at the start of a line creates a blockquote, and — since 2023 — Discord supports headings:
> This is a quoted line
# Big heading
## Medium heading
### Small headingLists
Bulleted and numbered lists both work:
- First item
- Second item
1. Step one
2. Step twoWhat Discord Doesn’t Support
Two things worth knowing:
- No tables. Discord ignores Markdown table syntax. For aligned data, use a code block so the spacing is preserved.
- No image Markdown.
won’t embed an image — upload or paste images directly instead.
Quick Reference
| Format | Syntax |
|---|---|
| Bold | **text** |
| Italic | *text* |
| Underline | __text__ |
| Strikethrough | ~~text~~ |
| Spoiler | ||text|| |
| Inline code | `text` |
| Quote | > text |
| Heading | # text |
See It Before You Send It
Discord doesn’t show a preview before you hit enter, which makes it easy to send a message with a stray asterisk or a misfired spoiler. Paste your message into the Discord Markdown formatter to see exactly how it will render — then copy it straight into your server.