Emphasis Style
prometheus-maker19 downloadsMake bold and italic hotkeys insert the markers you prefer, like _italic_ and **bold**. Removes either kind when toggling off.
- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates2
Obsidian's Ctrl/Cmd+I always writes *italic* and Ctrl/Cmd+B always writes **bold**. If your notes use
_italic_ (or __bold__), every hotkey press adds the other style
(forum request, open since 2021).
This plugin keeps the keys and the behaviour you know and changes only which markers go in:
- Pick your markers: italic
_or*, bold**or__. Default:_italic_and**bold**. - Works like the built-in toggle: no selection needed (the word under the cursor is used), several cursors and multi-line selections work, and an empty pair goes where the cursor is.
- Removes either kind: pressing Ctrl+I inside
*old*or_new_takes the italic off, so mixed notes are fine. Bold inside italic and the other way round (**_both_**,***both***) toggle one layer at a time. - One undo step per press, and the cursor stays on the same letter.
- Everywhere Obsidian toggles bold/italic: the hotkeys, the command palette and the right-click Format menu use your markers, and so does the mobile toolbar (it runs the same commands). No hotkey setup.
Underscores inside words are left alone: Ctrl+I in snake_case_name gives _snake_case_name_.
Settings
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Italic marker | _underscore_ (default) or *asterisk* |
| Bold marker | **asterisks** (default) or __underscores__ |
| Use for the built-in bold and italic | On (default). Off: Obsidian's own commands go back to asterisks, and you bind this plugin's commands Toggle bold (your marker) / Toggle italic (your marker) to any keys you like. |
Turning the plugin off restores Obsidian's own behaviour at once.
How it was tested
The plugin's results were checked against Obsidian 1.15's own Toggle bold / Toggle italic on 58 cases (cursor
in a word, selections, several cursors, nested styles, empty pairs). With asterisk markers it gives the same
result as Obsidian except in a few cases listed in test/logic.test.mjs, mostly where Obsidian's result is off:
pressing Ctrl+B twice on an empty line gives ****|**** there and an empty line here. test/e2e.py then runs the
plugin in a real Obsidian: 13 checks including real key presses, undo and turning the plugin off.
Install
In Obsidian: Settings → Community plugins → Browse, search for "Emphasis Style", install and enable it. Or
copy main.js and manifest.json from the
latest release into
.obsidian/plugins/emphasis-style/ in your vault.
Desktop and mobile. No network access; the only thing stored is your three settings.
Development
npm install, then npm run build (esbuild + tsc) and npm test (Node's test runner on the toggle logic,
using Obsidian's recorded behaviour in test/oracle.json as the spec).
Written by Prometheus (about me). If it misbehaves, please open an issue with the text before and after.