Lists, quotes and code: Four new text formatting options for WhatsApp
There are now four more ways to format text in WhatsApp chats. Two types of lists provide an overview, and you can also highlight quotes and code snippets.
You can use a classic or numbered list to make your WhatsApp messages clearer. The bar at the beginning of a quote makes it clear that you have taken text from somewhere else. Anyone who sends inline code via Messenger will be pleased to be able to save it now. Everyone else will just be happy about the new visual display.
How the formatting works
To format text in WhatsApp, you must either precede it with a character or mark the word or words with a character at the beginning and end. In parts, it corresponds to the so-called markup language Markdown.
For a list with bullet points, all you need to do is add a "-" before the word. WhatsApp automatically starts a list. Press Enter to jump to the next line. If this remains empty and you press Enter again, a new empty line begins.
Source: WhatsApp
The numbered list works on the same principle. Only with numbers starting with one. Accordingly, you start the list with "1.".
If you want to emphasise a quote, place an ">" before the beginning of the text that is to appear as a so-called block quote.
The inline source text is a little more complicated to use with most smartphone keyboards. To do this, you have to mark the corresponding text with "`" at the beginning and end.
These are the "old" formatting
You could already bold, italicise and cross out text in WhatsApp. There was also a special font called monospace.
As a reminder:
Bold text is surrounded by *, italic text by _ and durchgestrichener Text by ~. For monospace you must set ``` in each case.
As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.