How to Use Slack Strikethrough

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By
Aaron Peters
Aaron Peters
Aaron Peters
Writer
  • Villanova University
Aaron Peters is a writer with Lifewire who has 20+ years experience troubleshooting and writing about consumer and business technology. His work appears in Linux Journal, MakeUseOf, and others.
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Updated on June 15, 2022

What to Know

  • Easiest: Highlight text > select Strikethrough icon.
  • Keyboard shortcut: Highlight text > Ctrl+Shift+x (Windows) or CMD+Shift+x (macOS).
  • Text markup method: Insert ~ at start of text, then insert another ~ at the end.

This article explains how to use the strikethrough text formatting option in Slack apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, as well as for web browsers.

Applying Strikethrough in Slack with the Toolbar

The most straightforward way to apply strikethrough styling is using the toolbar. In the message area, highlight the text you want to strike through. Then select the Strikethrough icon (S with line through it), which sits between the Italics and Code icons.

The Strikethrough Button in Slack's Text Formatting Bar

If you don't have any text selected, selecting the Strikethrough icon will still activate Strikethrough mode. This means any further text you type will have strikethrough formatting applied.

If you don't see the formatting toolbar with options such as Bold, Italics, etc., it's just hidden. Select the Aa icon to the right of where you enter your messages. This will show the toolbar options again.

Strikethrough Text on Slack with a Keyboard Shortcut

As we all know, selecting icons isn't the only way to get something done. Fortunately, Slack also provides a keyboard shortcut to apply strikethrough formatting.

If you hover over the Strikethrough icon, you'll notice Slack provides you with the magic combo: Ctrl+Shift+x (CMD+Shif +x on macOS).

The Strikethrough Format's Keyboard Shortcut

Place a Line Through Text on Slack with Text Markup

If you're someone who strives for maximum productivity, even a keyboard shortcut is inefficient as your fingers need to resituate on the keyboard. Instead, you can apply strikethrough formatting to text by using text markup based on Markdown.

To do this, before the text you want to strike through insert a tilde sign (~). Then insert another one at the end of the text. This is the Markdown markup for strikethrough, and you'll notice the tilde signs disappear, and the text will be formatted as Strikethrough.

Using Markdown-style markup to denote strikethrough.

Note that when you complete the markup with the second tilde they will both disappear, and the surrounded words will be formatted as rich text. If you Backspace at this point, the tilde signs won't reappear as they do in some other Markdown-style editors.

A fourth, though decidedly less efficient, way to add rich formatted text to Slack messages is to copy and paste it from other applications. For example, you can apply strikethrough formatting in Microsoft Word and paste it into Slack, where the formatting will remain intact.

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