At over 150 million monthly active users and counting, Discord has quickly become the go-to chat platform for communities ranging from gamers to enterprises.
Part of what sets Discord apart is its effective mix of text chat, voice chat, organized channel discussions and robust formatting options. For power users especially, unlocking all of Discord‘s communications capabilities takes some knowledge and practice.
One lesser-known but handy trick is the strikethrough text formatting. Similar to bold or italics, strikethrough allows you to visually cross out any words, sentences or paragraphs by drawing a line straight through them.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll demonstrate everything you need to know to effectively utilize strikethrough for clearer, more visually engaging chats on Discord, whether you use the desktop or mobile app.
Why Use Strikethrough on Discord?
Before jumping into the how-to, let‘s start with the why. What are practical applications for striking through text on Discord?
Corrections
Crossing out incorrect information is a common strikethrough use case. Let‘s say you typo‘d and wrote the meetup is at 3pm, not 5pm. You could edit your message to say:
The meetup is at 3pm 5pm.
Visually indicates the correction so there‘s no confusion.
Callouts
You can leverage strikethrough‘s eye-catching property to emphasize particular words or phrases, like:
I can‘t believe they made that change so last minute spontaneously!
Revisions
For collaborations or evolving conversations, strikethrough previous suggestions or ideas that get replaced with newer ones:
Let‘s meet at the park the coffee shop instead.
Humor/Commentary
Crossing something out injects a more informal, conversational tone. Almost like an inside aside:
Yeah this level is insanely frustrating a bit challenging but I‘ll persist!
Accessibility
Some users, especially those with visual impairments, rely on screen readers to interpret text. Strikethrough provides helpful context so screen readers understand which words not to read.
Formatting Fluency
Business power users advised that full fluency with all Discord formatting can elevate your leadership presence. Strikethrough is one part of that puzzle.
Now that you have some ideas for how strikethrough can spice up your Discord presence, let‘s get into the steps for applying it with ease.
Strikethrough on Desktop
Discord‘s desktop platforms, including both their web and downloadable apps, make strikethrough a total breeze. Simply highlight the desired text and click the formatting button.
See it in action:
The toolbar icon looks like Strikethrough – it will make the visual line straight through your selected words or passages.
Let‘s run through the full steps:
- Launch Discord on your desktop
- Open any chat channel, group, or DM
- Type out your message as normal
- Highlight the part you want to strikethrough by clicking and dragging your mouse
- Click the horizontal line icon next to bold and italics
- Observe your text now crossed out!
And that‘s seriously all it takes – barely even a few seconds.
What makes it so fast on desktop is having that handy formatting menu pop up whenever you highlight text, putting common options like bold, italics and strikethrough just a single click away.
Now let‘s compare the equally simple, yet slightly more hidden process on mobile.
Strikethrough on Mobile
Discord‘s mobile app has grown robustly powerful over time. Today, it‘s a totally viable chat option for both casual and power users.
The one catch is that without a mouse hover, mobile can‘t trigger that automatic formatting menu popup.
But you can absolutely still strikethrough text – there‘s just an extra character-adding step:
To strikethrough on mobile, add two tildes (~~) before and after your desired text.
Here is an example message:
I‘m messaging from my phone! Let‘s meet at ~~the park~~ the coffee shop instead. By typing those tildes, your text in between will show with a strikethrough, like so:
I‘m messaging from my phone! Let‘s meet at the park the coffee shop instead.
So while an extra step compared to desktop, still simple enough to cross stuff out when mobile chatting.
Repeat Strikethroughs
You can have multiple strikethrough phrases in the same message – just add tildes before and after each part:
We could grab lunch around 1pm 2pm 3pm today!
Strikethrough Already-Sent Messages
What if you already hit send but then wanted to edit your message to add a strikethrough? No worries, Discord‘s got you covered there too.
On desktop:
- Hover your mouse over the sent message
- Click the "…" icon
- Select Edit from the dropdown menu
- Highlight the part to edit
- Click strikethrough just like before!
On mobile:
- Long press the sent message
- Tap Edit
- Manually add
~~tildes around the part you want struckthrough.
And voila – seamless strikethroughs, even post-send.
Creative Uses for Strikethrough on Discord
Hopefully now you have a firm grasp on how to technically utilize strikethrough across Discord platforms. Let‘s level up with some creative examples across common chat scenarios.
Gaming Chats
Gamers were the original core of Discord‘s userbase. When coordinating with your squad, consider cases like:
- New strat we could try is going
leftright at the fork - Everyone good to raid tonight at ~9pm~ 11pm EST?
- We absolutely nailed that
easyintense boss fight!
Business Communications
Enterprise adoption of Discord is rising. Make your work chats pop with strategic strikethroughs:
- Thanks everyone who attended the client meeting today at
3pm4pm! - Please finalize your
MondayWednesday project drafts - Our new branding launch has been
challengingsmooth so far!
Casual Conversations
Even just chatting with friends, creatively cross stuff out for emphasis:
- Dinosaurs are
overratedthe best creatures, no debate - Ugh I have a dentist appointment
tomorrownext week luckily - Who‘s down to binge
Squid GameWednesday next?
The options are endless. And especially combined with other formatting like bold or emoji reactions, strikethrough elevates your messaging dimension.
Pro Tips for Advanced Strikethrough Users
As a Discord power user for both gaming communities and remote business teams, I‘ve refined some pro tips for getting the most from strikethrough:
Use double strikethroughs for extra visibility: Rapidly tapping the strikethrough button on desktop or adding 4+ tildes on mobile will apply a bolder, double-lined cross out. Great for extra important callouts.
Combine with other formatting: Strikethrough pairs well with bold, italics or underline for multifaceted emphasis
Try animated strikethrough: Custom Discord servers can install integrations like Zalgo, allowing glitchy, animated strikethroughs for truly eye-catching corrections or revisions.
Strikethrough emoji: Rare but possible using Zalgo, animated strikethrough emoji takes your server chat to the next level.
With this elite expertise plus the core how-to knowledge above, you‘re equipped to masterstrikethrough like a Discord pro!
Compare to Other Chat Apps
I‘d be remiss as a communication technology specialist not to compare Discord‘s strikethrough powers against other dominant chat platforms. How does Discord usage stack up?
Slack: Robust desktop formatting options including strikethrough, but more limited capabilities on mobile.
Microsoft Teams: No native strikethrough at all, must use Markdown characters to cross stuff out.
Facebook Messenger: Strikethrough recently added and works across devices. But Discord‘s interface makes it more intuitive.
WhatsApp: Can send strikethrough messages but no inline formatting options.
So you can see Discord truly provides best-in-class strikethrough functionality with ease of use for both desktop and mobile users.
Key Takeaways and Expert Tips
Let‘s recap the key knowledge for expertly leveraging strikethrough within your Discord chats:
- Strikethrough allows visually crossing out text, great for corrections, revisions or emphasis
- On desktop Discord, simply highlight text then and click the icon
- On mobile Discord, manually add
~~tildes around text to strike through - Use creatively across gaming, work or casual chats to elevate your messaging
- Combine with other formatting like bold or italic for multifaceted callouts
- Don‘t forget you can edit already sent messages to add strikethrough as well
And if you‘ll allow me to synthesize the key experts tips covered for advanced strikethrough success:
- Leverage double strikethroughs for super visible callouts
- Try pairing with animated formatting for max memorability
- Strikethrough emoji takes some manual effort but produces huge reactions
- Maintain formatting fluency across Discord‘s suite of text tools
I hope this comprehensive guide illuminated everything from basic how-to steps to elite applications for leveraging strikethrough in your Discord chats, across both desktop and mobile platforms. Happy visually enhanced messaging! Please feel free reach out if you have any other Discord formatting questions.
