Nested bulleted list in Slack

Question

Is there a way to do nested bulleted lists with the new Slack markdown / formatting tools?

E.g. I tried this

 * something
   * nested something
 * something else

but it doesn't render it as

something
- nested something
something else

I couldn't find info regarding this on their help page

Have you tried using `
` to create an ordered list, then a `
`, followed by an `
` to create a sub-list? Also, "Tip: When you copy and paste text in markdown from another source into Slack, you can quickly apply formatting by pressing (Mac) or (Windows/Linux)." So you could use a markdown editor to get your `
` and/or `
` — spikey_richie, Nov 26 '19 at 14:19
@spikey_richie I'm not sure what you mean. Can you use html tags in Slack messages? — radoh, Nov 26 '19 at 14:23
Those aren't HTML tags, they're markdown. https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/ — spikey_richie, Nov 26 '19 at 15:17
Does this answer your question? [Slack multi-level bullet point or numbered list](https://superuser.com/questions/1483835/slack-multi-level-bullet-point-or-numbered-list) — amaidment, Jan 05 '21 at 12:54
September 2021 answer here: https://superuser.com/a/1672619/294269 — Ikar Pohorský, Sep 01 '21 at 11:10

radoh · Answer 1 · 2021-02-10T08:01:28.153

40

February 2021 update:

Slack officially added support for indented lists

Format your messages with indented lists

When formatting your messages in Slack, you can now indent up to five lines in ordered and bulleted lists. ...

As a workaround, I turned off automatic formatting - since it irritated me anyway - and then I can use the plain old

* something
  * nested something
* something else

which renders with asterisks as it appears here - but since I need the nested structure more than the fancy bullets, it's better than nothing.

EDIT: ‍♂️ I just realized you can very simply do this using the actual bullet • character

• something
  • nested something
• something else

it will look pretty good in Slack too:

Inserting the • character is very simple using Compose key on Linux:

<Multi_key> <period> <equal>            : "•"   enfilledcircbullet # BULLET

(AltGr + . + =)

edited Feb 10 '21 at 08:01

answered Jan 30 '20 at 09:49

radoh

1,381
1
12
13

Combine your answer with Giuliana's answer and everyone is happy! :D – Adrian Lynch Apr 20 '20 at 07:56
1

@AdrianLynch I just realized there's even simpler way :D edited my answer, without the need of emojis – radoh Apr 20 '20 at 11:06
2

For Mac users, the command is `⌥ + 8` to type a bullet point character. – SgtPooki Oct 23 '20 at 18:21
For windows it's Alt + 0149 on the numpad. If you don't want to disable auto-formatting on slack, you can place the char, space, then Ctrl+Z. Or use an AutoHotkey script to do all that, and use any custom shortcut you want for the job, including adding spaces in the beginning (something like a second-level slack bullet shortcut) – Renato Chencinski Dec 11 '20 at 17:41
Windows users, try [WinCompose](http://wincompose.info/) for similar any-special-character-typing capabilities. – Brad Turek Dec 18 '20 at 19:36
1

@SgtPooki Thanks for that tip about the Alt-8 for mac! Made my morning. Better than coffee! – WestCoastProjects Jun 03 '23 at 16:22

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 18 '22 at 15:47

12

Tabs did not work for me as of the time of this posting. I use the "Format messages with markup" option in Slack so I don't have the text formatting toolbar.

I can't even add a tab character, as it just moves cursor focus to the send button. I copy/pasted tabs in, and that didn't seem to work either, but I found an obvious solution.

Just add four spaces in front of the * to indicate nested lists. For example:

* item
    * nested 
        * nested nested

Results in:

answered Apr 18 '22 at 15:47

Chris Schneider

231
2
6

1

This works best, and I think should be the best answer to address the original question if you don't want to use hacks and don't want to turn off markup. Thanks! – user1442960 Jan 03 '23 at 21:02

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 07 '20 at 21:46

7

Here's a suggestion for indented messages in Slack:

Add a custom emoji that's just a transparent image (ex: https://cdn.hipwallpaper.com/i/7/29/4Udi3l.png) and use it to indent your messages (if you want a bullet per se, you can always use another emoji like :black_small_square:)

answered Apr 07 '20 at 21:46

Giuliana

91
1
3

1

wow nice, that's a pretty cool workaround – radoh Apr 08 '20 at 12:26

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 04 '20 at 19:21

Is there a way to do nested bulleted lists with the new Slack markdown / formatting tools?

No official way, but hopefully soon. https://twitter.com/slackhq/status/1247310565493616653 (mirror 1, mirror 2):

We don't support nested bullets at the minute [...], but we're hoping to support nested bullet points properly in future.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 29 '20 at 02:27

1

When you create a post, you can have nested bullet lists. You need tor press - or *, then <TAB> key to increment your level:

Unfortunately, it does not work with messages.

answered Apr 29 '20 at 02:27

rools

141
7

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 17 '20 at 09:35

0

You can do this by adding :blank: emoji and :dot: emoji I've set this up in two minutes:

blank image^^^ (can you see it???)

Dot image^^^

answered Jun 17 '20 at 09:35

Amir Mehler

101
1

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 27 '22 at 10:58

0

2022 update

One way:

Type an asterisk *
Press space, then
press tab

Another way:

Create a bullet point:

Press tab to indent it

Notes

The indent must be created before adding text to the bullet
Information from here

answered Mar 27 '22 at 10:58

stevec

641
7
16