Steam Text Formatter

How to use

1. Write your text in the box, or paste a draft. The box starts with a short example you can delete.
2. Select a word or a few lines and press a button: B, I, U and S wrap the selection, the list buttons turn each selected line into a list item, and Table turns lines like Map | Wins into rows.
3. Check the preview. Spoilers are black bars that reveal on click, the same way Steam shows them. A red line under the preview lists tags that were opened but not closed.
4. Press Copy and paste into the Steam review box, guide editor or discussion reply. Steam renders the tags when you post or preview.

Every tag Steam documents

Steam's formatting help lists these tags. All of them use square brackets and need a closing tag.

Steam also turns pasted YouTube, Steam store and Workshop links into embedded widgets on its own, so you do not need a tag for those. There is no tag for colour, font size beyond the three headers, or images inside reviews.

A review layout that people actually read

Long Steam reviews get skimmed. A layout that holds up on the store page, where reviews are cut after a few lines until the reader expands them:

1. One [h2] with the verdict, for example "Great co-op, weak solo".
2. A short [list] of three or four pros and cons, one line each.
3. A [table] for numbers: hours played, the FPS you got on your hardware, price paid.
4. Plot details or ending talk inside [spoiler], so the review stays safe to read.

Example you can paste into the box above and adjust:

[h2]Great co-op, weak solo[/h2]
[list]
[*]Co-op with 3 friends: 40 hours, still fun
[*]Solo: AI teammates get stuck on doors
[/list]
[table]
[tr][th]GPU[/th][th]1080p FPS[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]GTX 1660[/td][td]60-75[/td][/tr]
[/table]
[spoiler]The last mission is a boss rush.[/spoiler]

What usually goes wrong

• A tag left open. One missing [/b] turns the rest of the review bold. The red line under the preview lists every tag whose opening and closing counts differ.
• Lists without [*]. Lines inside [list] only become bullets when each starts with [*]. The list buttons add them for every selected line.
• Tables typed by hand. Twelve cells mean twelve opening and twelve closing tags. Write rows as a | b | c, select them, press Table: the first line becomes the header row.
• Links to javascript: or other odd schemes. The preview only links http and https addresses, which is also what you should post.
• Expecting tags in your Steam name. Profile names are plain text; BBCode shows as raw brackets there. For a styled name use fancy Unicode letters from the fancy text generator, and check the 32-byte limit with the Steam name generator.

What makes ours different

A plain list of tags tells you what exists; it does not stop you from posting a review with a broken table. Here every tag from Steam's list has a button, lines become list items and table rows in one press, the preview uses Steam's dark blue colours, spoilers behave like Steam's, and unclosed tags are counted. Your draft is kept in this browser, so closing the tab does not lose a half-written guide. The preview is an approximation: Steam's own renderer decides spacing and fonts. For CS2 launch options inside [code], see the CS2 launch options guide; for IDs in admin posts, the Steam ID converter.

Privacy

The preview is built in your browser from the text in the box. Nothing is uploaded; the draft is saved in this browser's local storage and you can clear it with the Clear button.

FAQ