Skip to content
Zulip help center

Emoji and emoticons

You can use emoji in Zulip messages and topics. There are several ways to use an emoji in your message:

You can add custom emoji for your organization. Like default emoji, custom emoji can be entered into the compose box by name, or selected from the emoji picker.

Use an emoji in your message

Section titled “Use an emoji in your message”
  1. Open the compose box.
  2. Click the smiley face () icon at the bottom of the compose box.
  3. Select an emoji. You can type to search, use the arrow keys, or click on an emoji with your mouse.

Use an emoticon

Section titled “Use an emoticon”

You can configure Zulip to convert emoticons into emoji, so that, e.g., :) will be displayed as 🙂 .

  1. Go to Preferences.
  2. Under Emoji settings, select Convert emoticons before sending.

The list of supported emoticons is available here.

Examples

Section titled “Examples”

What you type

Section titled “What you type”
:octopus: :heart: :zulip: :)

What it looks like

Section titled “What it looks like”

Markdown emoji

Use an emoji in a topic name

Section titled “Use an emoji in a topic name”

You can use unicode characters in topic names, including unicode emoji. Each platform has a different way to enter unicode emoji. Custom emoji cannot be used in topic names.

  1. Start a new topic.
  2. Press Command ⌘ + Control + Space to open the Character Viewer. See the macOS documentation to learn more.
  3. Select an emoji. You can type to search, use the arrow keys, or click on an emoji with your mouse.

Change your emoji set

Section titled “Change your emoji set”

Your emoji set determines how you see emoji. It has no effect on the emoji you send. Zulip emoji are compatible with screen readers and other accessibility tools.

  1. Go to Preferences.
  2. Under Emoji, select Google, Twitter, Plain text, or Google blobs for the emoji theme.
Section titled “Related articles”