Small Text Discord ˢᵐᵃˡˡ ᵗᵉˣᵗ

How to Make Small Text in Discord with -# Subtext

Discord added a native small text format called subtext in July 2024. It is the opposite of a heading: the line renders in a smaller, dimmed font, which is exactly what you want for footnotes, disclaimers and asides. No bot, no Nitro and no generator needed. If you have been looking up how to make small text in Discord, this is the answer Discord ships itself.

1. Start a new line in the message box. Press Shift + Enter if you are adding the line under something you already typed.
2. Type a hyphen, a hash and a space — that is -# followed by one space.
3. Write your text on the same line, for example -# not an official announcement.
4. Send the message. Discord strips the -# and renders the rest of the line small and grey.

Three rules decide whether it works. The -# has to be the very first thing on the line, the space after the hash is required, and every line you want shrunk needs its own -# — subtext does not carry over to the next line. You can still nest other formatting inside it, so -# **read the rules** gives you small bold text. The same syntax works in the desktop app, the browser and the mobile apps, and it is documented in Discord's own markdown formatting guide.

One limit is worth knowing up front: subtext is message markdown, so it renders only inside messages. Typing -# into a username, a nickname or a channel name just shows the characters literally. For those fields you need the Unicode route below.

How to Make Text Small in Discord on Mobile

How to make text small in Discord on a phone is the same question with the same answer: on iOS and Android the syntax is identical — there is simply no toolbar button for it, so you type -# by hand. Two things trip people up on a phone keyboard. Autocorrect likes to capitalise the first word and sometimes inserts a second space after the hash, and tapping the middle of an existing line puts the cursor past the start, so the prefix lands in the wrong place. Tap to the far left of the line first, then type the prefix.

For tiny Unicode text on mobile, use the generator at the top of this page, tap Copy, then long-press any Discord field and choose Paste. Because the result is plain characters and not formatting, it pastes cleanly into the message box, your display name or your status.

Small Text Discord Styles to Copy

Subtext gives you one size. The generator gives you several looks, because each one swaps your letters for a different set of miniature Unicode characters. Here is what each style produces for the phrase used on this page.

Subscript is the patchy one. Unicode never defined subscript forms for d, f, g, q, w, y or z, so those letters stay full size — you can see it in dᵢₛ꜀ₒᵣd above, where both d characters are untouched. Small caps and the superscript generator cover the whole alphabet, which is why those two read best in a name. The subscript generator page lists the full character table if you need to check a specific letter.

Where Small Text Works in Discord

Discord treats markdown and characters very differently depending on the field, and this is where most guides get vague. Markdown renders only where Discord parses messages; Unicode characters are just text, so they go almost anywhere — with one hard exception.

The username row is the one that surprises people. Since Discord retired discriminators, your unique handle is restricted to lowercase Latin letters, digits, underscores and periods, so no generator output will ever be accepted there. Put the styled version in your display name instead — it is what everyone actually sees next to your messages.

Subtext or Unicode Small Text in Discord

These two methods are not competing so much as covering different ground. Pick by where the text has to live and who has to read it.

A practical rule: anything a person needs to find later — a rule, a link title, a pinned note — should use subtext or plain text. Anything decorative, like a nickname or a category divider, is where the generator earns its place. If you want to understand why the characters behave this way, the Unicode character charts show the phonetic and superscript blocks these letters come from.

Small Text Not Working in Discord

Almost every report of broken subtext comes down to one of these, in rough order of how often it happens:

1. Something sits before the prefix. A space, a quote marker or an emoji ahead of -# cancels it. The prefix must open the line.
2. The space is missing. -#text stays as literal characters; -# text renders.
3. You are inside a code block. Backticks tell Discord to print formatting characters instead of applying them, so nothing shrinks.
4. You are typing in the wrong field. Markdown never renders in usernames, nicknames, channel names or server settings — only in messages.
5. Boxes instead of letters. That is a missing glyph on an old device or font, and it affects Unicode small text rather than subtext. Small caps is the safest style to fall back to, and the small text generator home page shows every style side by side so you can compare them.

Small Text Discord FAQ

More Small Text Tools for Discord

Need one specific style rather than the full set? These pages show the complete character table for each one.