LinkedIn Post Formatting: How to Bold, Italicize and Structure Your Posts
Samuel Rondot
7 min read
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LinkedIn still has no bold, italic or underline option in posts (we checked in October 2026). The post composer accepts plain text, line breaks, emojis, hashtags and @mentions, up to 3,000 characters (LinkedIn Help). The bold text you see in the feed is made of Unicode "mathematical" letters that look bold: you generate them with a text formatter and paste them in. It works visually, but screen readers and search tools don't treat those characters as normal words, so use it on a few words at most and never on your keywords. Real bold and italics only exist in LinkedIn articles and newsletters.
This guide covers how to format a post anyway, what the Unicode trick really does, and the formatting that makes people read to the end.
Can you bold text in a LinkedIn post?
Not natively. Here's where LinkedIn supports formatting and where it doesn't:
| Where | Native bold / italic | What you can use |
|---|---|---|
| Posts | No | Plain text, line breaks, emojis, hashtags, @mentions, Unicode characters (3,000 characters max) |
| Comments | No | Same as posts |
| Articles and newsletters | Yes | Text styles, bold, italic, ordered and unordered lists, blockquotes, dividers |
| Profile (headline, About) | No | Plain text, line breaks, emojis, Unicode characters |
There's no formatting toolbar in the post composer, keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+B or Cmd+B do nothing there, and pasting text from Word or Google Docs strips the formatting. LinkedIn hasn't announced a native option for posts either. The article editor is different: LinkedIn's help center lists bold, italics, lists, blockquotes and dividers among its tools (LinkedIn Help).
How to bold or italicize text in a LinkedIn post
- Write the post first, in the composer or in a notes app, and decide which two or three phrases deserve emphasis.
- Open a LinkedIn text formatter. Blabigo's free LinkedIn Text Formatter works without an account, and most other formatters work the same way.
- Paste your text, select the words and pick a style: bold, italic, bold italic, underline, strikethrough or monospace.
- Copy the result and paste it into your LinkedIn post in place of the plain words.
- Check the preview on a phone before you click Post: that's where display problems show up first.
Some browser extensions add B and I buttons right inside the LinkedIn composer. They don't switch on a hidden feature: they insert the same Unicode characters as the websites.
How Unicode "bold" text actually works
Unicode has a block called Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols (U+1D400 to U+1D7FF) with full alphabets in bold, italic, sans-serif, monospace and more. They exist for math formulas. A formatter swaps each letter for its look-alike: the H in 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 is U+1D407 Mathematical Bold Capital H, not the letter H (U+0048). Underline and strikethrough work differently: they add a combining mark after each normal letter.
| Style | Example | How it's built |
|---|---|---|
| Bold (serif) | 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 | Mathematical bold letters |
| Bold (sans-serif) | 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 | Mathematical sans-serif bold letters |
| Italic | 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘐𝘯 | Mathematical sans-serif italic letters |
| Bold italic | 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙙𝙄𝙣 | Mathematical sans-serif bold italic letters |
| Monospace | 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚎𝚍𝙸𝚗 | Mathematical monospace letters |
| Underline | L̲i̲n̲k̲e̲d̲I̲n̲ | Normal letters + combining low line (U+0332) |
| Strikethrough | L̶i̶n̶k̶e̶d̶I̶n̶ | Normal letters + combining long stroke overlay (U+0336) |
Two quirks to know before you rely on it:
- No accented letters. These alphabets only cover A–Z, a–z and digits. A word like "café" comes out half bold (𝗖𝗮𝗳é), or the formatter stacks a separate accent on top, which displays unevenly. That matters if you post in French, Spanish or German, or need to write a name like "José".
- A few letters live elsewhere. The italic small h, for example, is borrowed from the Planck constant symbol ℎ (U+210E), so some fonts show it in a slightly different style.
The downsides: accessibility, search and display
Unicode formatting isn't free. Here's what it costs.
Screen readers
Accessibility consultant Adrian Roselli tested fake bold and italic text in 2025: JAWS announced each styled letter individually, with its case and style, while NVDA, VoiceOver, Narrator and TalkBack read it without conveying any emphasis. In the best case your emphasis is simply lost for those readers; in the worst case a short phrase turns into a long list of character names. His recommendation is not to use fake bold or italics at all.
Search
To a computer, 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 and "growth" are different strings. Any search tool that doesn't convert those characters back to plain letters won't match them, and LinkedIn doesn't document how its own search handles them. The safe rule: keep names, job titles, company names and keywords in plain text, in posts and even more in your headline.
Display and copy-paste
Phones and computers without the right fonts can show empty boxes instead of letters. When someone copies your text into a document, a CRM or a translation tool, the styled characters come along as symbols, not words.
Readability
Whole sentences in bold or italics are tiring to read and look like spam. Emphasis only works when it's rare: one key number, one short phrase, a one-line heading.
LinkedIn formatting that works without Unicode
Most of what makes a post readable is native, free and safe for everyone:
- A first line that says something. Only the first couple of lines show before "…see more". Lead with the claim, the number or the question, not with context.
- Short paragraphs. One to three sentences each, with a blank line in between. LinkedIn keeps your line breaks.
- Plain-text lists. Start lines with •, →, – or numbers. Emojis can work as bullets too if you keep them sober (see our guide to emojis on LinkedIn).
- @mentions for the people and companies you talk about: they get notified and the name becomes a link (here's how to tag a company on LinkedIn).
- A few relevant hashtags, at the end, if any.
- A visual (image, document, short video) when it adds something to the text.
- The right length. Posts stop at 3,000 characters. If you need more, or real headings, write an article.
Here's the difference on a real-looking post. Before:
We tested 3 subject lines on 2,000 prospects last quarter and the shortest one won by a wide margin, which surprised us because we expected the personalized one to win. Here's what we learned and what we changed in our sequences.
After, with native formatting and one touch of Unicode bold:
The shortest subject line won. By a lot.
We tested 3 subject lines on 2,000 prospects last quarter:
→ Personalized (first name + company)
→ Question
→ 2 words, no punctuation
𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿: the 2-word one.
What we changed in our sequences 👇
The numbers above are an example, not data: the point is the structure. When you publish matters too, see the best time to post on LinkedIn, then check your post impressions to see what format your audience responds to.
When to write a LinkedIn article instead
If your content needs headings, real bold and italics, numbered lists or quotes, publish an article: click Write article in the share box at the top of your homepage, and use the toolbar to change the style, bold or italicize text, add lists, blockquotes or a divider (LinkedIn Help). Newsletters use the same editor. A common pattern is to publish the article, then share it with a short native post that gives away the key point.
If your posts exist to start conversations with buyers, the post is only half the work. useArtemis runs LinkedIn + email sequences with AI-personalized messages and a unified inbox, so the people who engage with your content can get a relevant follow-up. Plans are on our pricing page.
FAQ
Can you bold text on LinkedIn without a generator?
Not in posts, comments or your profile: LinkedIn has no bold option there, and Ctrl+B or Cmd+B does nothing. You get native bold and italics only in LinkedIn articles and newsletters, through the editor's toolbar.
Does LinkedIn penalize posts with Unicode bold text?
LinkedIn hasn't published anything saying it ranks posts lower because of Unicode characters. The real costs are elsewhere: screen readers handle them inconsistently, search tools may not match them to the plain word, and some devices display boxes. Keep it to a few words and never on keywords.
How do I write in italics on LinkedIn?
Paste your text into a LinkedIn text formatter, select the words, choose italic, then copy the result into your post. It uses Unicode italic characters, so accented letters (é, ñ) stay upright and the italics won't be read as emphasis by most screen readers.
Can you underline text in a LinkedIn post?
Only with a combining underline character added after each letter (L̲i̲k̲e̲ ̲t̲h̲i̲s̲), which a formatter does for you. It displays unevenly on some fonts and readers can mistake it for a link, so it's the style we'd skip.
Can I change the font of my LinkedIn posts?
No. LinkedIn displays every post in the font of the reader's device or browser. The "LinkedIn fonts" offered by generators are Unicode characters, with the same accessibility and search limits as fake bold.
