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.

You can also quickly respond to a message by using emoji reactions.

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.

  1. Open the compose box.

  2. Type :, followed by a few letters from the emoji name, to see autocomplete suggestions. The letters don't have to be at the beginning of the emoji name. For example, :app will match both :apple: and :pineapple:.

  3. Type the full emoji name followed by :, or select an emoji from the list of suggestions.

  1. Open the compose box.

  2. Paste an emoji copied from outside of Zulip directly into the compose box.

You can hover over an emoji in the emoji picker, a message, or an emoji reaction to learn its name.

Use an emoticon

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

  1. Click on the gear () icon in the upper right corner of the web or desktop app.

  2. Select Personal settings.

  3. On the left, click Preferences.

  4. Under Emoji settings, select Convert emoticons before sending.

The list of supported emoticons is available here.

Examples

What you type

:octopus: :heart: :zulip: :)

What it looks like

Markdown emoji

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.

  1. Start a new topic.

  2. Press Windows + . to open the emoji keyboard. See the Windows 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.

  1. Start a new topic.

  2. Open the Characters app for GNOME.

  3. Select an emoji. You can type to search, use the arrow keys, or click on an emoji with your mouse.

  1. Start a new topic.

  2. Right-click on the text input box.

  3. Select Emoji or Emoji & Symbols. You will only see this option if supported by your operating system.

  4. Select an emoji. You can type to search, use the arrow keys, or click on an emoji with your mouse.

  1. Start a new topic.

  2. Paste an emoji copied from outside of Zulip directly into the text input box.

https://emojipedia.org/ may be a helpful resource.

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. Click on the gear () icon in the upper right corner of the web or desktop app.

  2. Select Personal settings.

  3. On the left, click Preferences.

  4. Under Emoji, select Google, Twitter, Plain text, or Google blobs for the emoji theme.

Google blobs is an old style of Google emoji that has not been maintained by Google since 2017, when they switched to a more modern style. Zulip allows you to still use blob emoji, but any new emoji that have been released since 2017 will be displayed in the modern Google style.