How do I put line breaks and bold asterisks in a WhatsApp link message?
Type the message in the message box the way you want it to appear: press Enter for each new line and put asterisks around the word you want bold. The tool turns every line break into %0A inside the link and leaves the asterisks untouched, so the text lands in the customer's message box with its lines and asterisks intact.
A worked example
Say you want a two-line message: a bold heading, then the product name. Type it in the WhatsApp link generator like this:
*عرض اليوم*\nعطر العود 50 مل
In the real box you will not see \n, just an actual new line after pressing Enter. The tool counts this message as 27 characters, and the link it builds is:
https://wa.me/966501234567?text=*%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%B6%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85*%0A%D8%B9%D8%B7%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF%2050%20%D9%85%D9%84
Notice three things: the asterisks are still asterisks, the line break became %0A, and every space became %20. The number is an example.
Asterisks: what the tool does and what WhatsApp does
The tool knows nothing about formatting. To it an asterisk is an ordinary character, carried over as is. The formatting is WhatsApp's job: when text with a word between asterisks is sent, WhatsApp shows that word in bold. So the customer sees the asterisks in the message box before sending, and the bold word in the chat afterwards. The same goes for WhatsApp's other formatting markers; the tool passes them through character for character and changes nothing.
Lines copied from Windows or a file
If you write the message in a Windows program and copy it, each line break is two characters instead of one. The tool turns that into a single line break before encoding, so no extra blank lines appear in the customer's message box. We tried it: lines a and b with Windows line endings became a%0Ab in the link, exactly as if typed directly.
Tips for a formatted message that does not annoy
- Two or three lines are enough. A pre-filled message is not an ad, and the customer sends it in their own name.
- Bold only a word or two, such as the product name or an order number.
- A blank line between paragraphs is kept too, but it stretches the message in a small phone text box.
- Open the link on your phone before publishing to see how the message really looks in the box.
Each line break counts as one character on the tool's counter and adds three characters to the link. That does not matter behind a button, but it does if you plan to put a long message into a QR code.
Common questions
Do multiple lines work in the alternative api.whatsapp.com form?
Yes. The tool encodes the message once and uses it in both forms, so the lines and asterisks are identical in each.
I added asterisks but the message box shows no bold. Is something wrong?
No. Before sending, the asterisks show as typed; the formatting appears in the chat after sending, in the way WhatsApp displays it.