Rich text in Airtable is based on on a variation of Markdown, a lightweight and readable syntax for formatting. You can use Markdown in the following areas in Airtable:

• Base descriptions
• Long text field with rich text formatting on (for available Markdown syntax options see Formatting rich text in the long text field)
• Web clipper app when including a long text field with rich text formatting

Headers

A line that starts with one to three # characters, followed by one whitespace character, represents a first level to third level headers respectively.

Markdown syntax

# First level header
## Second level header
### Third level header

Result

Bold and Italic

Text surrounded by a single * or _ pair will be formatted as italic (meaning emphasis in Markdown); text surrounded by a double ** or __ pair will be formatted as bold (meaning strong emphasis in Markdown). You can combine them with other inline formats.

*This text will be italic*
_This will also be italic_

**This text will be bold**
__This will also be bold__

_Combine them for **bold italic**_

Strikethrough

Text surrounded by a ~~ pair will be formatted as strikethrough.  This is not supported in the base description.

~~This text will be strikethrough~~

Lists

There are three types of list items: unordered, ordered, and checkbox. You can mix and match different types of list items of the list. To create indented list items, pad the list item with 4 leading spaces.

Unordered List

You can use either - or * as an unordered list marker.

- Item 1
- Item 2
    * Indented item 1
    * Indented item 2

Ordered List

Starting a line with a number and a period will automatically convert to a list. This is not supported in the base description.

1. Item 1
2. Item 2
     1) Item 2a
     2) Item 2b

Checkbox List

Starting a line with “[ ]” or “[x]” will begin a checkbox list.

[x] Checked item 1
[ ] Unchecked item 2
    [x] Subitem 1
    [ ] Subitem 2

Links

There are two types of links: inline and reference.

An inline link has the form of [Link text](link URL), where the URL is specified inline. A reference link has the form of [Link Text][Label Name], where the label references a link definition. A link definition is a line with the form [Label name]: URL. It can be placed anywhere in the text and will be removed when converted to rich text cell value.

[Airtable](https://airtable.com) is awesome.
[Link reference][1] also works.

[1]: https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#link

Blockquotes

A blockquote is a line that starts with > and then followed by the quote content. This is not supported in the base description.

> Roses are red
> Violets are blue

Inline Code

Text surrounded by a ` pair will be formatted as inline code (with monospace typeface).

`apiKey` is your secret API token.

Code Blocks

A code block is one or more lines of code surrounded by code fences. A code fence is a line that is a sequence of at least 3 consecutive backticks (`) or tildes (~). The closing code fence must be the same type as the opening code fence (backticks or tildes), and with at least as many characters as the opening fence sequence.

The line with the opening code fence may optionally contain some text following the code fence. This is called the info string. Some Markdown implementation use this string for code block syntax highlighting. Airtable currently does not utilize the info string and it will be discarded when converting Markdown text to rich text cell value.

Note that we do not support indented code blocks in the original Markdown.

```
tell application "Microsoft Excel"
  quit
end tell
```

tell application "Microsoft Excel"
  quit
end tell

Line Breaks

Every line break will be treated as a hard line break. Note that this behavior differs from original Markdown.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ignoring Formatting

You can use backslash (\) before any Markdown syntax character to escape the formatting.

\*This is not italic\*