Format messages

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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

Bold message text using the Bold icon in the message formatting toolbar. Italicize message text using the Italic icon in the message formatting toolbar. Strike out message text using the Strikethrough icon in the message formatting toolbar.

Add headings, links, or attachments

Format message text as a heading using the Heading icon in the message formatting toolbar. Headings 1 through 6 are supported. Add a message link using the Link icon in the message formatting toolbar. Add a message attachment using the Upload files icon in the message formatting toolbar.

Format a numbered list, a bulleted list, quoted text, or text as code

Format message text as a numbered list using the Numbered list icon in the message formatting toolbar. Format message text as a bulleted list using the Bulleted list icon in the message formatting toolbar. Format message text as a quotation using the Quote icon in the message formatting toolbar. Format message text as code using the Code icon in the message formatting toolbar.

Add emojis or GIFs

Add emojis or GIFs to message text using the Emoji/Gif picker icon in the message formatting toolbar.

Set message priority

Mark a message as important or urgent using the Priority Message icon.

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

Tip

  • Hide the formatting options by selecting the Show/Hide Formatting Hide formatting options in the message formatting toolbar using the Show/Hide Formatting icon. 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 Bold Italics

  • ~~strikethrough~~ renders as Strike Through

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:

Large Heading

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

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

Renders as:

Smaller Heading

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:

1. Item one
1. Item two
1. item three

Renders as:

  1. Item one

  2. Item two

  3. Item three

You can also start a list at any number:

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

Renders as:

  1. The first list number is 4.

  2. The second list number is 5.

  3. 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:

List

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.

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
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

Syntax Highlighting in GitHub

Solarized Dark Theme

Syntax Highlighting Dark

Solarized Light Theme

Syntax Highlighting Light

Monokai Theme

Syntax Highlighting Monokai

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. From Mattermost Server v5.35 and in Mattermost Cloud, 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:

Mattermost

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:

Mattermost

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:

Mattermost

Horizontal lines

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

***

Renders as:


Block quotes

Create block quotes using >.

> block quotes renders as:

../_images/blockQuotes.png

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:

Markdown Table Sample

Math Formulas

From Mattermost v6.1, 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.