Intercom's message composer lets you write and style outbound messages using rich formatting, buttons, images, video, and personalization. This article covers the formatting tools available and which options apply to each message type.

Adding and formatting content

There are three ways to add content to a message:

Type it — the composer supports Markdown-style shortcuts as you type.
The + icon — insert images, GIFs, videos, buttons, and file attachments.
Drag and drop — drop an image or file directly into the composer.

Text formatting

Format	How
Bold	`Cmd + B` (`Ctrl + B` on Windows)
Italic	`Cmd + I` (`Ctrl + I` on Windows)
Headings	Select text and choose a heading style, or use the toolbar
Bulleted list	Start a line with `-`, `+`, or `*`
Numbered list	Start a line with `1)` or `1.`
Inline code	Wrap text in single backticks: `example`
Code block	Wrap text in triple backticks: ```
Link	Paste a URL (it auto-links), or select text and add a link

Formatting options by message type

Formatting availability differs by message type:

	Rich text	Buttons	Button centering	Images / video	HTML mode
Post (Small & Large)	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	No ❌
Chat (in-app)	Yes ✅	No ❌	No ❌	Yes ✅	No ❌
Email	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
Banner	Yes ✅	✅ (incl. URL button)	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	No ❌
Mobile Push	Title + body text	No ❌	No ❌	No ❌	No ❌

Posts come in two formats — Small (compact) and Large (full-width) — chosen when you build the message. Both formats support the same formatting, including centered buttons.

Banners can be inline or floating, positioned top or bottom, and support actions like opening a URL or a URL button.

URL encoding

Any links added to a message will be URL encoded.

For example, if a URL contains a space like this:

https://examply.com/help center

The space will be replaced with %20:

https://examply.com/help%20center

Avoid pasting already-encoded URLs — the composer handles encoding automatically, so pre-encoded URLs will be double-encoded and break.

Buttons

Add a button from the + menu. Give it button text and a target URL; you can edit both after inserting.

Images, GIFs, and video

Add images and GIFs via the + icon or drag and drop. Click an inserted image to add a link, alt text, resize it, or set its alignment. File attachments can also be added from the + menu.

You can also embed hosted video from providers like YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Loom, and Vidyard using the + menu.

Note: Video clips must be in mp4 format and no more than 40mb in size. They'll display in a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Use inline code and code blocks

To add inline code, type ` at the start and end of your code snippet. It will look like this:
example inline code

To add a code block, just type ``` at the start and end of your code snippet. Your finished code block will look like this:

example code block
example code block

HTML emails

Adding HTML is only possible when creating emails. You can't add custom HTML to in-app messages. You also can't use inline styling with the HTML option. To add it to your emails, just select the + icon on the left of your content block and select the "Insert HTML" option.

When you create a new custom email template, it doesn't contain a max-width rule for images. So when you add images in the composer, they aren't resized to fit like with a default email template. Adding the following to the template's code means that they are:

img { 
  max-width: 100% 
}

You can also import your own HTML if you want to send emails using fully customized email templates. Just select the 'Edit HTML' option in the lower left corner of the email composer.
Adding attributes to your messages is easy. Just select the icon that appears on the right of any content block, and select the standard attribute, the custom attribute, or the event attribute that you would like to include in your message.
You can even add attributes to your links. For example, if you wanted to link each user to their company settings page, and the URL was www.yourappname/settings/, you can add to the URL from your list of attributes.

You can also add attributes to HTML blocks. To do this you must manually type the attribute syntax. Note: To include attributes with fallbacks within HTML attributes, e.g. href or src, please use single quotes for the fallback text as using double-quotes creates invalid HTML there
To create a new line within a content block, hit 'Return'.
You can create a new content block by hitting 'Return' twice.
To delete an image or a video, just highlight it and press backspace.
To delete a button delete all the text in it, and then press backspace once more.

Important: If you start creating a message in the visual builder, do not switch to the HTML editor unless you are certain you want to proceed. Switching to the HTML editor is a permanent action and will cause all content from the visual builder to be permanently lost. This cannot be undone.

Personalization (attributes)

Insert standard, custom, or event attributes anywhere in your message — including inside links and HTML blocks — to personalize content per recipient. Always set fallback text so the message reads correctly when an attribute is empty.

Good to know

Chats and Mobile Push don't support buttons — use a Post, Email, or Banner if you need a call-to-action button.
Video uploaded directly must be MP4 and under 40MB; use an embed for larger or hosted video.
Switching an email to HTML is irreversible.
Don't pre-encode URLs — the composer encodes them for you.

💡Tip

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Composing an outbound message