This wikiHow teaches you how to change the text appearance of messages that are sent within a WhatsApp conversation for Android. The styles available for text formatting are the classic ones: bold, italic and strikethrough.
Steps
Step 1. Launch WhatsApp on the Android device
It features a green cartoon icon with a white telephone handset inside. The WhatsApp interface will appear with the "Chat" tab already selected.
If the last time you closed WhatsApp you were in a conversation, press the "Back" button on your device to return to the "Chat" tab
Step 2. Tap one of the contacts from the list on the "Chat" tab
The latter shows all the conversations you have recently participated in broken down into individual contacts and groups. Choose the conversation you want to view its chat in full screen.
Alternatively you can press the green button inside which there is a white balloon, located in the lower right corner of the screen. The complete list of all WhatsApp contacts will be displayed from which you can choose the one with which to start a new conversation
Step 3. Tap the text field for entering messages
It is characterized by the words "Write a message" and is located at the bottom of the screen. This will display the virtual keyboard of the device.
Step 4. Press the keyboard button to view the layout for typing special character symbols
The latter include the asterisk, the hyphen and other symbols related to punctuation, such as the question mark or exclamation mark. For the desired formatting to be applied to the entire message, the text must be enclosed between two special characters.
If you are using the Google keyboard, press the key ?123 located in the lower left corner to switch to the layout relating to the insertion of symbols and special characters. In some devices this key may be indicated by the abbreviation Sym or by another combination of special characters or symbols.
Step 5. If you need to enter bold text, type the asterisk * twice
This way all the text enclosed between the two asterisks will appear in Bold.
Step 6. If you need to enter italicized text, type the underscore _ twice
All text between the two underscores will appear in italics.
Step 7. If you need to enter strikethrough text, type the tilde ~ twice
All characters between the two tildes will appear crossed out.
If the tilde character does not appear on the keyboard, press the key =\< to access the second page of the keyboard where other special characters are displayed. In some devices this key is indicated with the abbreviation 1/2 or with a different combination of other special characters.
Step 8. Select the keyboard layout again for typing text
You are now able to enter the message text using the device's default keyboard.
Using most devices, you can switch to the keyboard layout for text entry by pressing the key ABC located in the lower left or right corner of the screen.
Step 9. Move the text cursor between the two selected special characters
For the text to appear crossed out or formatted in bold or italics, it must be included between the two special characters chosen (asterisks, underscores or tildi).
Step 10. Type the message text in the appropriate field enclosing it between the two selected special characters
Use the virtual keyboard of the device or copy it from another source and paste it in the indicated place.
Step 11. Hit the submit button
It features a green icon with a white paper airplane inside. It's located to the right of the text field where you typed your message. The latter will be sent to the recipient. The message text will appear in bold, italic or strikethrough within the conversation screen.
