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A LinkedIn post preview shows your post as the feed shows it, before you publish. Paste your text and you see it on a laptop and on a phone, with the point where LinkedIn folds it behind see more. That fold decides whether anyone reads on, so it pays to know where it falls.
The same tool formats text. LinkedIn has no button for bold in a normal post. What looks bold in the feed is a different set of letters: characters from a Unicode block for mathematics that look bold or italic. Put two stars around a word for bold, an underscore for italic, three stars for bold italic. Copy the result and paste it into LinkedIn. Everything runs in your browser; your text goes nowhere.
Where LinkedIn folds your post
| Screen | Roughly visible | What also counts |
|---|---|---|
| Laptop | 210 characters | Three lines, line breaks count |
| Phone | 140 characters | Three lines, narrower line |
| Maximum per post | 3,000 characters | Above that LinkedIn refuses the post |
LinkedIn publishes no limit for see more itself. The figures above are what creators and tools measure; an empty line at the top costs you a whole line. The preview counts characters and lines together, and shows the shorter of the two.
How to use the preview
Paste or type your post in the text box. The preview updates as you type, for both screens. Want a word in bold? Put two stars around it, _an underscore_ for italic, and *three stars* for bold italic. Click copy and paste the text into a new post, a comment or your profile. Letters with an accent, such as Γ© or Γ§, have no bold version and stay plain; the tool tells you which.
Five checks on your draft
- The first two lines say why someone should read on
- Bold sits on a few words per post at most
- Your hashtags and names are in plain letters
- You have read the post once without the bold
- Key information is not only in bold
Bold and accessibility
Bold Unicode letters are not ordinary letters to a screen reader. Some read them out as mathematical symbols, letter by letter, others skip them. Search often does not find them, LinkedIn's own included. So use bold for a few words that should stand out, not for sentences someone must be able to read or find. Never put your name, company name or hashtags in bold. What accessibility asks of your website, our accessibility checker shows.
The first lines count
What sits before see more decides whether someone clicks. Start with the point, not a run-up. A question, a number from your own work or a statement someone recognises works better than an empty line or an emoji. How LinkedIn decides who sees your post is in the LinkedIn algorithm in 2026, and when to post in the best time to post on LinkedIn.
Bold in a post or in an article
- Bold and italic
- Normal postOnly through Unicode letters
- Article or newsletter on LinkedInWith the buttons in the editor
- Screen readers
- Normal postOften read it badly
- Article or newsletter on LinkedInRead it normally
- Search
- Normal postBold words are often not found
- Article or newsletter on LinkedInPlain text, findable
- Fits
- Normal postA heading or a few words
- Article or newsletter on LinkedInLonger texts with subheadings
What the tool converts
| You type | You get | Works for |
|---|---|---|
| Two stars around bold | π―πΌπΉπ± | Letters a to z, A to Z and digits |
| An underscore around italic | πͺπ΅π’ππͺπ€ | Letters a to z and A to Z |
| Three stars around bold italic | ππ€π‘π ππ©ππ‘ππ | Letters a to z and A to Z |
| Γ©, Γ«, Γ§, Γ | Stay plain | No bold Unicode version |
Digits have no italic version; in italic text they stay upright. The tool uses the sans-serif letters, because they come closest to the LinkedIn typeface. Other tools also offer serif letters, gothic letters or letters in a circle. In a business feed those quickly look like spam, and screen readers struggle with them even more.
Where to use bold and where not
Bold works in the first line of a post, as a heading above a list or to make a number stand out. It does not work for whole paragraphs: bold everything and nothing stands out. In your profile headline and summary it rarely helps. Recruiters and customers search for words, and they may not find a bold one. Keep bold out of comments on other people's posts too; there it reads as shouting.
A good alternative to bold is white space and short sentences. A list with a dash or a number before each line reads just as easily and stays plain text for everyone.
Bold back to plain
Paste a post with bold letters into the tool and you can turn it back into plain text. Useful when you want to reuse an old post in an email, on your website or in a document, where bold Unicode letters look odd.
A post that gets read
Formatting helps, but a post is read for what it says. Write as you speak, one idea per post, and end with a question or a next step. A steady plan helps more than a perfect post: start with our content calendar template or the social media plan template. To see whether your posts land, work out your engagement with the engagement rate calculator. Images in the right size are in social media image sizes.
Have your LinkedIn managed
Setting up a company page is covered in LinkedIn company page; giving colleagues access, in add an admin to a LinkedIn page. Want someone to write and schedule your posts, for your company page or your own profile? See LinkedIn management. Advertising on LinkedIn costs more than on other networks; what to expect is in LinkedIn ads cost. A question? Send us a message.
Answered briefly
How many characters show before see more?
About 210 on a laptop and 140 on a phone, or fewer when line breaks fill the first three lines. LinkedIn publishes no official figure.
Can you make text bold on LinkedIn?
Not with a button in a normal post. You use bold Unicode letters, which this tool makes for you. In a LinkedIn article or newsletter, the editor can do it.
Does everyone see the bold text?
On almost every phone and laptop, yes. Screen readers often read it badly, and search often does not find it.
How long can a LinkedIn post be?
At most 3,000 characters.