Text formatting and styles

Unlike a lot of other networks we have a large range of formatting options and we are always updating our formatting options. As a result check here for any changes. You can also check the bottom of this page for recent changes.

Normal text formatting

Bold

Creates Bold Text.

** Text to be formatted **

Underline

Creates Underline Text.

__ Text to be formatted __

Italic

Creates Italic Text.

// Text to be formatted //

Strike

Creates Strike Text.

-- Text to be formatted --

Special URL Links

Links don’t need any special format to link, but we also auto generate a preview of site contents like the page title, image and description. You can prevent this by putting ( link ) around the URL with a space for the pure link, or without a space around the brackets to fetch and use the page title as the link text. You can also add [] with text inside before that to add a custom title.

(https://hey.cafe)
( https://hey.cafe )
[Custom Title](https://hey.cafe)

Lists

With lists there must be a blank line after each item (excluding the last one) to match properly.

* Item


* Another Item


* Wait another?

Sub List

With lists if you don't use double new lines between items they will be grouped under the main item it is under

* Main Item #1
* Sub item #1
* Sub item #2


* Main Item #2
* Sub item #1
* Sub item #2

GIF Images

Giphy links that end in .gif will auto convert to embedded GIF images. For example the following URLS would work.

https://media.giphy.com/media/3oEjHI8WJv4x6UPDB6/giphy.gif

Quote text

This will create a quote block used for quote text.

|| Content here and it can be multi line! ||

Special Formatting

This formatting will almost always only work directly within the main Hey.Café app.

Rainbow

Unlike stickers it has no border and shadow but has rainbow text.

*_ Text here _*

Sticker

This type will ONLY work in conversations and comments, it will also cut off any text inside over 20 characters.

!_ Text here _!

Headers

Main Heading

## Content here ##

Sub Heading

### Content here ###

Sub Heading 2

#### Content here ####

Sub Heading 3

##### Content here #####

Code Block

Not only can your provide code but you can add the short codes : tab :, : tick :, or : hashtag : without the spaces to allow special formatting in your code to render correctly.

`` Content here and it can be multi line! ``

Reveal / Spoilers Block

Hides content unless a user clicks the button to show the content in question.

---- Content here and it can be multi line! ----

Tags and mentions

User Mention

@useralias

Café Mention

!cafealias

Uploaded File Location

Inside this block just replace the file name with a the name of one of the files you uploaded with your conversation to have it render in that location instead of at the bottom of the conversation.

{file:20221006063402-z8r31b1c0f.jpg}

Special Personal Site Formatting

Your personal site that you can find via the url https://anthony.myhey.cafe for example (can find more info in help) you have some special formatting, you can just include <script> and <style> blocks that will render only on your personal site.

You can also use the main level Title tag to separate sections in different bubble boxes.

Recent Changes

Jan 4th 2026: We updated the format for italic from 2 underscores to 2 slashes on each side of the text. This change makes it so that the underscores can be used for underline text. Also added strike text using 2 dashes in the process of adding underline.