Format messages#

Mattermost Academy Learn about message formatting

Use the messaging formatting toolbar#

From Mattermost v7.0, you can format your messages in Mattermost using the message formatting toolbar without having to specify any Markdown syntax.

The message formatting toolbar, available from Mattermost v7.0, doesn't require Markdown syntax, and makes formatting message text fast and easy.

The message formatting toolbar offers the following formatting options:

Formatting option	Icon
Bold, italicize, or strike out text
Add headings, links, or attachments
Format a numbered list, a bulleted list, quoted text, or text as code
Add emojis or GIFs
Set message priority

Review how your message formatting will look when the message is sent by selecting the Show/Hide Preview icon. Return to your draft message by selecting the icon again.

Tip

Hide the formatting options by selecting the Show/Hide Formatting icon. Select the icon again to show the formatting options.
You can control whether post formatting is rendered within the message formatting editor. When disabled, raw text is shown. See the Channels customization documentation for details.

Use Markdown#

You can also format your messages in Mattermost using Markdown to control text styling, links, headings, lists, code blocks, in-line code, in-line images, horizontal lines, block quotes, tables, and math formulas. Markdown makes it easy to format messages: type a message as you normally would, then use formatting syntax to render the message a specific way. For a guide to using Markdown in Mattermost, see this blog post.

Formatting markdown controls the look and feel of text messages.

Text style#

You can use either _ or * around a word or phrase to make it italic, or __ or ** around a word or phrase to make it bold.

Tip

Common formatting keyboard shortcuts are supported. Bold text by pressing Ctrl B on Windows and Linux, or ⌘ B on Mac. Italicize text by pressing Ctrl I on Windows or Linux, or ⌘ I on Mac.

*italics* (or _italics_) renders as italics
**bold** renders as bold
***bold-italic*** renders as
~~strikethrough~~ renders as

Links#

Tip

Format selected message text as a link by pressing Ctrl K on Windows and Linux, or by pressing ⌘ K on Mac.

Channel links#

Create a link to a public channel in a message by typing ~ followed by the channel name (e.g. ~roadmap). Channel members see private channel names returned.

Labeled links#

Create labeled links by putting the desired text in square brackets [ ] and the associated link in round brackets ( ).

[Check out Mattermost!](https://.mattermost.com/)

Renders as: Check out Mattermost!

Headings#

Make a heading by typing # and a space before your title. For smaller headings, use more #’s.

## Large Heading
### Smaller Heading
#### Even Smaller Heading

Renders as:

Alternatively, you can underline the text using equal signs === or hyphens --- to create headings.

Large Heading
-------------

Renders as:

Lists#

Create a list by using asterisks *, hyphens -, and/or plus signs + interchangeably as bullets. Indent bullet points by adding two spaces in front each one.

* item one
- item two
  + item two sub-point

Renders as:

item one
item two
- item two sub-point

Make an ordered list by using numbers instead:

Item one
Item two
item three

Renders as:

Item one
Item two
Item three

You can also start a list at any number:

The first list number is 4.
The second list number is 5.
The third list number is 6.

Renders as:

The first list number is 4.
The second list number is 5.
The third list number is 6.

Make a task list by including square brackets [ ]. Mark a task as complete by adding an x.

- [ ] Item one
- [ ] Item two
- [x] Completed item

Renders as:

Code blocks#

Creating a fixed-width code block is recommended for pasting multi-line blocks of code or other text output because it’s easier to read with fixed-width font alignment. Examples include block text snippets, ASCII tables, and log files. Rendered code blocks include a Copy option to copy the contents of the code block.

This can be accomplished by placing three backticks ``` on the line directly above and directly below your code:

```
this is my
code block
```

Tip

Type three backticks ```, press Shift Enter on Windows or Linux, or ⇧ ↵ on Mac, <type_your_code>, press Shift Enter on Windows or Linux, or ⇧ ↵ on Mac again, then type three more backticks ```.

Or by indenting each line by four spaces:

    this is my
    code block

^^^^ 4x spaces

Syntax highlighting#

To add syntax highlighting, type the language to be highlighted after the ``` at the beginning of the code block. Mattermost also offers four different code themes (GitHub, Solarized Dark, Solarized Light, and Monokai) that can be changed in Settings > Display > Theme > Custom Theme > Center Channel Styles.

Supported languages and their aliases include:

Language	Aliases
ActionScript	actionscript, as, as3
AppleScript	applescript
Bash	bash, sh
Clojure	clojure
CoffeeScript	coffescript, coffee, coffee-script
C/C++	cpp, c++, c
C#	cs, c#, csharp
CSS	css
D	d, dlang
Dart	dart
Delphi	delphi
Diff	diff, patch, udiff
Django	django
Dockerfile	dockerfile, docker
Elixir	elixir, ex, exs
Erlang	erlang, erl
Fortran	fortran
F#	fsharp
G-Code	gcode
Go	go, golang
Groovy	groovy
Handlebars	handlebars, hbs, mustache
Haskell	haskell, hs
Haxe	haxe
Java	java
JavaScript	javascript, js
JSON	json
Julia	julia, jl
Kotlin	kotlin
LaTeX	latex, tex
Less	less
Lisp	lisp
Lua	lua
Makefile	makefile, make, mf, gnumake, bsdmake
Markdown	markdown, md, mkd
Matlab	matlab, m
Objective C	objectivec, objective_c, objc
OCaml	ocaml
Perl	perl, pl
Pascal	pascal, pas
PostgreSQL	pgsql, postgres, postgresql
PHP	php, php3, php4, php5
PowerShell	powershell, posh
Puppet	puppet, pp
Python	python, py
R	r, s
Ruby	ruby, rb
Rust	rust, rs
Scala	scala
Scheme	scheme
SCSS	scss
Smalltalk	smalltalk, st, squeak
SQL	sql
Stylus	stylus, styl
Swift	swift
Text	text
TypeScript	typescript, ts, tsx
VB.Net	vbnet, vb, visualbasic
VBScript	vbscript
Verilog	verilog
VHDL	vhdl
HTML, XML	html, xml
YAML	yaml, yml

Example:

``` go
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, 世界")
}
```

Renders as:

GitHub Theme

Solarized Dark Theme

Solarized Light Theme

Monokai Theme

In-line code#

Create in-line monospaced code text by surrounding it with backticks `. Don’t use single quotes '.

`monospace`

Renders as: monospace.

In-line images#

In-line images are images added within lines of text. You can control whether all in-line images over 100px in height are automatically collapsed or expanded in messages by setting a user preference, or by using the /collapse and /expand slash commands.

To add in-line images to text, use an exclamation mark ! followed by the alt text in square brackets [ ], then the image URL in round brackets ( ). You can add hover text after the link by placing the text in quotes " ".

Example:

![alt text](URL of image "Hover text")

If the height of the original image is more than 500 pixels, Mattermost sets the image height at 500 pixels and adjusts the width to maintain the original aspect ratio.

You can set the width and height of the displayed image after the URL of the image by using an equals sign = followed by values for both width and height ##x##. If you set only the width, Mattermost adjusts the height to maintain the original aspect ratio.

Warning

The native apps do not support fixed width and height and will display the full-size image.

Examples:

.. |mattermost-icon-76x76| image:: ../images/icon-76x76.png
.. |mattermost-icon-50x76| image:: ../images/icon-50x76.png

In-line image with hover text#

![Mattermost](../images/icon-76x76.png "Mattermost Icon")

Renders as:

In-line image with link#

Note

An extra set of square brackets [ ] is required around the alt text, and round brackets ( ) are required around the image link.

[![Mattermost](../images/icon-76x76.png)](https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost)

Renders as:

In-line image displayed with fixed width and height#

Example: An in-line image that’s 50 pixels wide and 76 pixels high.

![Mattermost](../images/icon-76x76.png =50x76 "Mattermost Icon")

Renders as:

In-line image displayed with fixed width#

Example: An in-line image that’s 50 pixels wide where the system adjusts the height to maintain the original aspect ratio.

![Mattermost](../images/icon-76x76.png =50 "Mattermost Icon")

Renders as:

Horizontal lines#

Create a line by using three *, _, or -.

***

Renders as:

Block quotes#

Create block quotes using >.

> block quotes renders as:

Tables#

Create a table by placing a dashed line --- under the header row, then separating each column with using pipes |. The columns don’t need to line up exactly. Choose how to align table columns by including colons : within the header row.

| Left-Aligned  | Center Aligned  | Right Aligned |
| :------------ |:---------------:| -----:|
| Left column 1 | this text       |  $100 |
| Left column 2 | is              |   $10 |
| Left column 3 | centered        |    $1 |

Renders as:

Note

Multi-line text in a table cell isn’t supported using HTML tags such as <br> or <br/>.

Math Formulas#

Using Inline LaTeX

You can create formulas that display inline using LaTeX. Use the dollar sign ($) symbol at the beginning and end of each formula.

Note

This feature is disabled by default. Contact your system admin to enable this setting in System Console > Site Configuration > Posts to use this feature.

$X_k = \sum_{n=0}^{2N-1} x_n \cos \left[\frac{\pi}{N} \left(n+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{N}{2}\right) \left(k+\frac{1}{2}\right) \right]$

Renders as:

$An inline LaTeX math equation sample.$

Using LaTeX in Code Blocks

Create formulas as code blocks by using LaTeX in a latex code blocks.

Note

This feature is disabled by default. Contact your system admin to enable this setting in System Console > Site Configuration > Posts to use this feature.

```latex
X_k = \sum_{n=0}^{2N-1} x_n \cos \left[\frac{\pi}{N} \left(n+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{N}{2}\right) \left(k+\frac{1}{2}\right) \right]
```

Renders as:

$A LaTeX code block math equation sample.$