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Comprehensive Formatting Help
By lightwo
List of all markup (BBCode) tags on Steam, where they can be used, their parameters and issues surrounding them.
   
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Created by
lightwo
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Languages: English
Posted
Updated
14 May, 2022 @ 5:44am
1 Oct @ 4:55am
1,369 Unique Visitors
96 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Preface 
Documented Tags 
Undocumented Tags 
Miscellaneous 
Where To Use 
Comments
Preface
While is always accessible, it's very inaccurate and inconsistent. Also, as evident by many differences in lists, not all tags are available everywhere. This guide aims to make the differences clearer, as well as point out parsing issues to watch out for.

Recommendations
  • Until character count is consistently implemented across Steam, add-ons like Word Count[addons.mozilla.org] are recommended to track it without relying on an external editor.
  • An alternative for guide section contents is Lutymane's Extended-Guide-Editing[github.com] userscript that removes the character limit, which requires a userscript loader add-on such as Violentmonkey[addons.mozilla.org] (edit: it doesn't seem to work any longer!).
  • Textarea Tabbing[addons.mozilla.org] is another recommendation, it can be used to indent hard to navigate code without wasting as many available characters using tabs instead of regular spaces.
  • Steam - unhide removed links[userstyles.world] userstyle reveals the contents of removed links, and requires a userstyle loader add-on such as Stylus[addons.mozilla.org].
Documented Tags
Syntax
Example
[h1] Heading 1 [/h1]
[h2] Heading 2 [/h2]
[h3] Heading 3 [/h3]

Note: Heading 2 and Heading 3 are not documented and have no accompanying button, Heading 1 can't be used in certain cases where it's documented otherwise.
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
[b] Bold text [/b]
[u] Underlined text [/u]
[i] Italic text [/i]
[strike] Strikethrough text [/strike]
Bold text
Underlined text
Italic text
Strikethrough text
[spoiler] Spoiler text

(image) [/spoiler]

Note: only works well for text
Spoiler text

[noparse] Doesn't parse [b]tags[/b] [/noparse]
Doesn't parse [b]tags[/b]
Horizontal

[hr][/hr]
rule

Note: a break appears post-tag, work around it by adding a break before [hr][/hr]
Horizontal


rule
[url=steamproxy.net/steamstore] Website link [/url]

Paste any (external or otherwise) URL for it to become a hyperlink.
lightwo.net
https://steamproxy.net/discussions/

Note: external domain text can be worked around by using the link filter URL and adding a colon (:) after the steamproxy.net domain, using it for the URL tag

id=anchor makes an anchor (unavailable)
Steam URLs or approved domains

Third party domains[lightwo.net]

Plain URLs
lightwo.net
https://steamproxy.net/discussions/

Blocked domains {LINK REMOVED}
Paste a plain YouTube or Vimeo URL to automatically generate a widget.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tax4e4hBBZc

Note: doesn't work if the user hasn't accepted YouTube/Vimeo cookies within Cookies & Browsing within account settings.
Paste a plain Sketchfab URL to automatically generate a widget.
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/two-prudential-plaza-5948e8c389284f10993f882ca329223b

Note: doesn't work if the user hasn't accepted Sketchfab cookies within Cookies & Browsing within account settings.
Paste a Steam store page URL to automatically generate a widget.
https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/323190/
Paste a Steam Workshop or other user-generated content URL to automatically generate a widget.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=157328145

[list]
 [*] Bulleted list
 [*] Bulleted list
 [*] Bulleted list
[/list]
  • Bulleted list
  • Bulleted list
  • Bulleted list
[olist]
 [*] Ordered list
 [*] Ordered list
 [*] Ordered list
[/olist]
  1. Ordered list
  2. Ordered list
  3. Ordered list

[quote=author;3155312274947358220] Quoted text [/quote]

Note: author and comment ID are optional. Use a comment ID (included in the post number link) to link to a comment in the same thread
Originally posted by author:
Quoted text
[code] Fixed-width font, preserves spaces [/code]
Fixed-width font, preserves spaces
[table]
 [tr]
  [th] Name [/th]
  [th] Age [/th]
 [/tr]
 [tr]
  [td] John [/td]
  [td] 65 [/td]
 [/tr]
 [tr]
  [td] Gitte [/td]
  [td] 40 [/td]
 [/tr]
 [tr]
  [td] Sussie [/td]
  [td] 19 [/td]
 [/tr]
[/table]

Note: a [table] element with no cells can be used to create a closed section, especially useful for left- and right-aligned images.

noborder and equalcells can't be used anywhere in Community editable by a normal user (excl. News and Support articles), despite being included in formatting help
Name
Age
John
65
Gitte
40
Sussie
19

[table noborder=1]
will hide the table borders

[table equalcells=1]
will force the table be full width of the page and for each column to be equal width
Undocumented Tags
Syntax
Example
A very boring paragraph full of text nobody will read. Blah blah, not another lorem ipsum.

[pullquote] “The readers are impatient.” [/pullquote]
This paragraph is even less readable. “The readers are impatient. Just get to the point,” he said.
A very boring paragraph full of text nobody will read. Blah blah, not another lorem ipsum.

“The readers are impatient.”

This paragraph is even less readable. “The readers are impatient. Just get to the point,” he said.
[img]https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/.../.../[/img]

Note: externally hosted images may be used
[video mp4=video_url.mp4][/video]

Note: externally hosted videos may be used, video is always muted, but can be any video format


autoplay=0 to disable autoplay (pointless)
poster=thumbnail_url.png (clicking does nothing)

[previewimg=420;sizeFull,floatLeft;example.png]Alt text[/previewimg]

Note: image needs to exist within guide images
Alt text
Size:
sizeThumb (half-width)
sizeFull (full-width)
sizeOriginal (original size)

Alignment:
floatLeft (left)
floatRight (right)
inline (inline)

[previewicon] respects breaks but isn't supposed to open modal window

[screenshot=420;https://...]Alt text[/screenshot]

Note: a custom thumbnail can be used by replacing the URL. Externally hosted images may be used by replacing the URL with a custom one, working around guide image storage limit
Alt text

Size and alignment:
same as above

[previewyoutube=tax4e4hBBZc;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]

Note: full width doesn't take tables and quotes into account

[previewyoutube=video_ID;full]
will make the video full width

[previewyoutube=video_ID;rightthumb]
will align the video right
Paste a Steam Inventory Item URL to automatically generate a widget.
https://steam.../inventory/#440_2_11198320657

Note: new preview generation is broken for inventory AppIDs with many items, presumably due to reaching cache storage limit
(Usually broken)

[color] Colored text [/color]
Removed in 2017 due to the CSS injection exploit[i.gyazo.com]
Miscellaneous
Syntax
Example
:steamthumbsup:


Note: hovering over reveals large version (may differ)
Note: instead of colons, ː (U+02D0) can be used in reviews
[i]Un[/i]remarkable

Note: this is a parsing inconsistency
Unremarkable
(otherwise Un remarkable)
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/rest-of-url.jpg

Note: used to shorten image URLs under clans path, mainly for store pages
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/rest-of-url.jpg
♥♥♥♥
♥♥♥♥ or ****

Note: disabled in groups entirely.

Can be altered under Community Content Preferences.

Add this string to Never filter these words to disable everywhere:
.*
Where To Use
Warning: Limits may be inaccurate
Likely due to the 2022 Winter Sale, some limits on Steam have been adjusted, and this section hasn't yet been edited to reflect that, considering it may be a temporary change. Here's some information on that.

Short summary
  • h1 can't be used in comments and activity posts, but h2 and h3 can.
  • h2, h3, img, video and Inventory Item URL aren't documented anywhere or have accompanying buttons.
  • Most formatting help pages are missing tables.
  • Group summaries aren't as bare as formatting help suggests.
  • img is exclusive to user-generated content description/summary.

Type
What works (bold: undocumented)
Character limit
Discussions
h1, h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, YouTube URL, Store URL, UGC URL, Inventory Item URL, list, olist, quote, code, table, emoticon, bracket expansion, word filter (excl. groups)
18000 (16384 for new posts, infinite in OP edits, parser breaks at ~120000)
Comments
h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url (excl. profile), emoticon, parsing space error, bracket expansion, word filter (excl. groups)
1000
Profile summary
h1, h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, emoticon, parsing space error, bracket expansion, word filter
4000
Profile showcases
h1 (except for Items Up For Trade), h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, emoticon, parsing space error, bracket expansion, word filter
8000
Custom Info Box title
Nothing!
512
Group summary
h1, h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, list, olist, quote, code, table, bracket expansion
3000
Group headline
Nothing!
255
Group announcement
h1, h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, YouTube URL, Store URL, UGC URL, Inventory Item URL, list, olist, quote, code, table, emoticon, bracket expansion
32000
Group announcement title
Nothing!
1024
Group event
Nothing!
1000
Group event title
Nothing!
256
Curator review
Nothing!
200
UGC description / summary
h1, h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, previewyoutube, list, olist, quote, code, table, img, video, bracket expansion, word filter
8000
Guide section contents
h1, h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, YouTube URL, previewyoutube, Store URL, UGC URL, Inventory Item URL, list, olist, quote, code, table, video, previewimg, previewicon, screenshot, bracket expansion, word filter
8000
Guide section titles (same as above, but lacks link previews)
h1, h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, previewyoutube, list, olist, quote, code, table, video, previewimg, previewicon, screenshot, bracket expansion, word filter
128
Chat
spoiler (/spoiler), YouTube URL, Store URL (or /store) (unavailable in China), UGC URL, Inventory Item URL, quote (/quote), code (/code), images (sent URL or uploaded directly), emoticon, chat effect, mention, word filter

Extras: /me, /pre (works the same as code elsewhere currently), /giphy (unavailable in China), /random, /flip, /sticker (followed by sticker name), /roomeffect (followed by chat effect name)
5000
Review (it's the same in showcase)
h1, h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, YouTube URL, Store URL, UGC URL, emoticon (workaround), Inventory Item URL, list, olist, quote, code, table, bracket expansion, word filter
8000
Activity post
h2, h3, b, u, i, strike, spoiler, noparse, hr, url, YouTube URL, Store URL, UGC URL, emoticon, parsing space error, bracket expansion
10240

To do
pullquote, Sketchfab embed, chat embeds (Vimeo, Sketchfab, Twitter, Spotify); consider summarising embeds as "YouTube" and "other embeds"
43 Comments
< >
GE-0 20 Oct @ 4:57pm 
@Secretss, how about simply combining code and no parse? That’s what i do, though that’s somewhat cumbersome
[code][noparse] [CODE GOES HERE] [/nоparse][/code]
lightwo  [author] 19 Oct @ 2:13am 
I believe I ran into this issue before, specifically when I included a bash script, so the workaround was to use two brackets instead. It does result in two brackets in the text, but in that case it worked fine.

Overall, it's pretty much inescapable. I'd advise against making guides, to be honest, due to all the issues and limitations that have never been resolved.
Secretss 18 Oct @ 11:38pm 
Is it possible to cleanly escape the '[' and ']' characters when used inside a code block? The value I have inside these brackets don't show up when padded with a space on either end, like [space1space] instead of [1]. I can add a \ after the [ to make the value show up but then the \ also shows up.
lightwo  [author] 1 Oct @ 4:52am 
I just whipped together a simple workaround for the un-functional {LINK REMOVED} bbcode tag, which includes the actual link but never shows it:

https://userstyles.world/style/18398/steam-unhide-removed-links
GE-0 22 Aug @ 3:59pm 
And it's similar to horizontal line {hr} tag, just less bright
lol, even works in the comments
lightwo  [author] 22 Aug @ 1:09pm 
That's not formatting, that's a section separator. It appears as you add sections to a guide. There's no tag for it. It's guide structure.
maceleet 22 Aug @ 8:49am 
https://i.postimg.cc/wvsCrBDV/Screenshot-2024-08-22-204835.png
maceleet 22 Aug @ 8:46am 
Hi, how to make a black horizontal line like in u're description?
lightwo  [author] 11 Aug @ 12:16pm 
No, you can only insert custom images into guides by exploiting the screenshot tag.
steeg 11 Aug @ 10:32am 
Is it possible to insert banner like https://www.gametracker.com/server_info/redherra.gleeze.com:27016/b/ and https://gamemonitoring.net/left-4-dead-2/servers/5578773/integration into Steam Group page?