How to Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS

This wikiHow teaches you how to bold, italicize, and/or underline text in the iPhone's Mail app.

1

Open the Mail app.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 1
    Tap the Mail app icon on your iPhone or iPad. It resembles a white envelope on a light-blue background. Doing so will open your Mail app's default inbox.
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2

Tap the "Compose" icon.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 2
    It's the pen-and-pad icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. This creates a new message.
3

Enter a recipient and a subject.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 3
    Type the email address of the person to whom you want to send your email into the "To" box. Then, tap the "Subject" text box and type in the subject you want to use for your email.
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4

Enter your text.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 4
    Tap the large text box below the "Subject" text box, then type in whatever you want to bold, italicize, and/or underline. You can add formatting after you type your content.
5

Tap and hold a word.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 5
    When you release your finger, a menu will expand. This menu has options for formatting the selected word.
    • If you don't see a pop-up menu, tap the word once, then tap, hold, and release it again. The menu should appear.
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6

Tap "Select" on the menu.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 6
    It's in the black pop-up menu. Doing so will select the entire word.
    • If you want to apply formatting to all of the text in this area, tap instead Select All and skip the next step.
7

Adjust the selection.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 7
    If you want to format more than one word, it's easy. Tap and drag the blue dot to the right or left of the selection to extend it.
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8

Tap BI U in the menu.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 9
    If you don't see this, tap the right-arrow at the far end of the black menu to find it. This brings up options to add bold, italic, and underlined text.
9

Select a format.

  1. Image titled Embolden, Italicize, and Underline Email Text with iOS Step 10
    In the pop-up menu, tap Bold, Italic, or Underline. This formats the selected text.
    • You can apply any combination of these options to your selected text.
    • If you want to undo your changes, tap the same button to remove the formatting.
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Warnings

  • You cannot bold, italicize, or underline text in iMessage.
    ⧼thumbs_response⧽
  • The BIU button won't always be in the same place. If you don't see it in the pop-up menu initially, tap the right-most triangle-shaped button to scroll to the next page of the menu and look for it there.
    ⧼thumbs_response⧽
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About This Article

Jack Lloyd
Written by:
Jack Lloyd
wikiHow Technology Writer
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Jack Lloyd. Jack Lloyd is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. He has over two years of experience writing and editing technology-related articles. He is technology enthusiast and an English teacher. This article has been viewed 233,864 times.
How helpful is this?
Co-authors: 12
Updated: October 9, 2022
Views: 233,864
Categories: Apple iOS
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