Format messages

Google Chat lets you add formatting to messages, including the following:

Format a text message

Chat lets you add basic formatting to a text message, including bold, italic, and strikethrough, by using a small subset of Markdown syntax. You format text differently in text messages than in card messages because text messages are formatted with the same syntax that Chat users use. To format text that appears in a card, see Format a card message.

To format text messages, use the following syntax:

Format Symbol Example syntax Text displayed in Google Chat
Bold * *hello* hello
Italic _ (underscore) _hello_ hello
Strikethrough ~ ~hello~ hello
Monospace ` (backquote) `hello` hello
Monospace block ` ` ` (three backquotes) ```
Hello
World
```		 Hello
World
Bulleted list * or - (hyphen) followed by a space

* This is the first item in the list

* This is the second item in the list
  • This is the first item in the list
  • This is the second item in the list

For example, consider the following JSON:

    {
      "text": "Your pizza delivery *has arrived*!\nThank you for using _Cymbal Pizza!_"
    }

This formatted text message displays the following in a Chat space:

Cymbal Pizza app sends a text message that the delivery has arrived.

View text formatting sent in a message

When a user sends a message, the plain-text body of the message is in the text field. Some formatting that is applied to the text message using Markdown syntax, is in the text field. Additional formatting is in the output-only formattedText field, including the following:

  • Additional Markdown syntax for text
  • User mentions
  • Custom hyperlinks
  • Custom emoji

For example, consider the following text sent by a user:

Message received in Chat with the word

If the message was formatted by using the Format menu in the Chat UI, the text field contains the text only, while the formattedText field contains the markups, the text, and the hyperlink. The following example shows the draft of a text message with a word hyperlinked, items in a list, and one word bolded:

Message draft with the word

The message is received in the following format:

    {
      "text": "I can meet there at:\nNoon\n3 pm\n5 pm\nWhat time works for you?",
      "formattedText": "I can meet <http://example.com|there> at:\n* Noon\n* 3 pm\n* 5 pm\nWhat time works for *you*?",
    }

If you include a plain link URL in your message text, such as http://www.example.com/, Google Chat uses this as the link text and automatically hyperlinks that text to the specified URL.

To provide alternate link text for your link, use the following syntax:

Example syntax Text displayed in Google Chat
<https://example.com|Example website>

The pipe and link text are optional, so that <https://www.example.com/> and https://www.example.com/ are equivalent.

Mention users in a text message

Chat apps can send text messages that @mention one or all users in a Chat space. Chat apps can't mention users in a space that is in import mode or any users that haven't joined the space.

@mention specific users

To @mention a specific user, add <users/{user}> to the text message where {user} is the ID of the user. For example, consider the following text message where 123456789012345678901 represents the ID for the user Mahan S.:

{
    "text": "A customer has reported an issue. Assigning ticket #942 to <users/123456789012345678901>."
}

The text message displays as the following:

Chat app mentions a person in a text message.

You can specify the users/{user} value in the following ways:

  • If your Google Chat app is responding to a message sent by the user, you can use the message.sender.name field of the MESSAGE interaction event.

  • If your Google Chat app is creating an asynchronous text message, you can specify the value for users/{user} in the following ways:

    • Use the name field of the Google Chat User resource, such as users/123456789012345678901.
    • Use the user's email address as an alias for the {user} value. For example, if the email address is mahan@example.com, you can specify the user as users/mahan@example.com. To use an email alias, your Google Chat app must authenticate as a user.

  • If you use the People API, you can also use the people.get method to identify the user ID.

@mention all users

To create a text message that @mentions everyone in a space, replace {user} with all. The following JSON example mentions all users in a message:

{
    "text": "Important message for <users/all>: Code freeze starts at midnight tonight!"
}

Format a card message

Inside cards, most text fields support basic text formatting by using a small subset of HTML tags. You format text differently in card messages than in text messages because text messages are formatted with the same syntax that Chat users use. To format text that appears in a text message, see Format a text message.

Use the Card Builder to design and preview JSON card messages for Chat apps:

Open the Card Builder

The supported tags and their purpose are shown in the following table:

Format Example Rendered result
Bold "This is <b>bold</b>." This is bold.
Italics "This is <i>italics</i>." This is italics.
Underline "This is <u>underline</u>." This is underline.
Strikethrough "This is <s>strikethrough</s>." This is strikethrough.
Font color "This is <font color=\"#FF0000\">red font</font>." This is red font.
Hyperlink "This is a <a href=\"https://www.google.com\">hyperlink</a>." This is a hyperlink.
Time "This is a time format: <time>2023-02-16 15:00</time>." This is a time format: .
Newline "This is the first line. <br> This is a new line." This is the first line.
This is a new line.

Add a built-in icon to a card

The DecoratedText and ButtonList widgets support the icon element used to specify one of the built-in icons available in Chat.

The following table lists the built-in icons that are available for card messages:

AIRPLANE BOOKMARK
BUS CAR
CLOCK CONFIRMATION_NUMBER_ICON
DESCRIPTION DOLLAR
EMAIL EVENT_SEAT
FLIGHT_ARRIVAL FLIGHT_DEPARTURE
HOTEL HOTEL_ROOM_TYPE
INVITE MAP_PIN
MEMBERSHIP MULTIPLE_PEOPLE
PERSON PHONE
RESTAURANT_ICON SHOPPING_CART
STAR STORE
TICKET TRAIN
VIDEO_CAMERA VIDEO_PLAY

The following is an example of a card with an email icon:

Add a Google Material Design icon to a card

The DecoratedText and ButtonList widgets let you use the Google Material icons so that you can select from over 2500+ icon options and customize the weight, fill, and grade of the icons.

The following is an example of card with a Google Material icon:

Add a custom icon to a card

The DecoratedText and ButtonList widgets let you use the built-in icons, or define your own custom icons. To add a custom icon to a card, include the iconUrl field and specify the icon's corresponding URL.

The following is an example of a custom icon: