Frequently asked questions
Do the styles work on Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, VK / VKontakte…?
Yes. Styled text relies on standard Unicode characters that can be copied and displayed as-is on most social networks.
There are already other font generators — why ETeext?
Yes, dozens exist — but most style only one line, output an image, drop your accents, or bury you in ads. ETeext is a real editor: whole paragraphs, mixed styles, true Unicode, offline, no ads or tracking.
What styles, effects and typographic modifiers does ETeext offer?
ETeext is a real toolkit: more than 60 styles and effects organized into 5 categories, plus a library of emojis and symbols:
Do the styles work in messaging apps (WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, Telegram, Signal, Viber…)?
Yes. Since the styles are Unicode characters and not formatting, they are preserved when copy-pasting and display as-is in most messaging apps — even those with their own formatting.
Do styled hashtags actually work?
It depends on the platform, and nothing tells you which. A styled character isn’t the letter it imitates: some platforms convert styled text back to plain before matching, others don’t — and that can change at their next update. The habit: keep plain what machines read (hashtags, @mentions, links, keywords) and style what eyes look at (your hook, your separators).
Why do some styles sometimes show squares ▯?
Several decorative styles (such as Runic/Canadian, Cryptic and others) rebuild your text with real Unicode characters borrowed from different writing systems around the world (Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, Cherokee, Greek, Cyrillic, Thai, Chinese characters…). The text you copy is correct and complete. How it displays depends on the font of the device reading it: if a device doesn't have these characters (it depends on the font pack the manufacturer ships), it shows a small rectangle ▯ (“tofu”) instead. It's not an error — the character is there, only the font to draw it is missing; on another device the same text can display perfectly. In some of these styles, accented letters (é, à, ç, î, ô…) are deliberately shown as plain Latin letters so they stay readable everywhere. These styles work best for short words (usernames, titles).
My exported (or pasted) text shows squares (□) around accented words like “café”. Is the file broken?
No — your file is fine: it saves the exact characters, byte for byte. But saved correctly does not mean displayed correctly everywhere: a styled letter carrying an accent (é, à, ñ…) is really a fancy letter plus a separate accent mark, and the most basic viewers (Windows Notepad, old email apps) cannot draw that combination, so they show a square. The text itself is intact and displays correctly in browsers, modern apps and social media. To avoid those squares, turn on Safe Mode: it avoids those separate accents when you style and it cleans what you copy or export — even if the text was already styled. You can also simply leave accented words unstyled. Not to be confused with squares caused by a missing font on the device doing the reading.
Why does the character count rise faster with styled text?
ETeext's styled fonts (bold, italic, script…) swap each letter for a special character: on most platforms (X, etc.), each one counts as about two toward the posting limit. Some effects, Zalgo above all, swap nothing — they stack extra marks on top of the letters, and every mark counts in turn, so there is no ceiling. With intense Zalgo, a few words can be enough to fill a short limit like X's. Blocks goes further still: it neither swaps nor stacks — it draws your word with squares, so a six-letter word weighs over a hundred characters, around twenty times what you typed. ETeext shows that same count, so you know in advance how much your text will "weigh" once posted — it is not an error. For a "lighter" text, use fewer styled characters, or plain text.
What is Zalgo text?
Zalgo is a “glitch” text effect with a real “wow” factor: it stacks marks above and below letters to create a chaotic, eerie look that's popular on social media.
How can you surprise people and stand out with a “wow” effect online?
ETeext is exactly the toolbox for that: more than 60 different styles and effects — underlines, frames, special bullets, fancy fonts and above all the spectacular Zalgo — to transform your text and catch every eye.
Is ETeext free?
Yes. ETeext offers a permanent free version, a full time-limited trial of the PRO plan, and a paid PRO subscription (pricing on the dedicated page) that unlocks all styles, effects and features.
What's the difference between the free version and the PRO plan?
After a full time-limited trial, the free version stays usable permanently with a selection of basic styles — for example Bold Sans-Serif, Italic, Gothic, Monospace and Small Caps, a few frames and emojis. The PRO plan unlocks all the other styles and effects (Cursive, Squared, Circled, Zalgo…), the AI tools, saving (Save and My Notes), Export of your text to a UTF-8 TXT file, and signature customization.
Can the signature be customized or removed?
In the free version, a short ETeext signature is added automatically; the PRO plan lets you customize it or remove it entirely.
Are the generated/enhanced texts sent to a server?
No, except when using the AI features: ETeext is LOCAL-FIRST, your text stays stored in the browser, with no transfer to a third-party cloud.
Can it be used without an internet connection?
Yes. ETeext is an installable web app (PWA) that works offline after the first load.
Do I need to install or download anything?
No, ETeext runs directly in the browser — but installing it as an app is recommended.
How many languages is ETeext available in?
The app is available in 13 languages.
Does ETeext work on mobile as well as desktop, and across operating systems?
Yes. ETeext is a responsive, multi-OS web app that works the same way on smartphone, tablet and computer.
Do I need to create an account to use ETeext?
To use the free styles, no — you can start styling right away, no sign-up. To get the 21-day PRO trial (and later upgrade to PRO), you create a free account: the 21 days start when you sign up.
Does styled text stay readable for everyone (accessibility)?
Partly: the characters display correctly on the vast majority of devices, but some receiving devices may sometimes misread them, and tofu then shows up on the other side. A Safe Mode is provided to prevent this — it keeps accented characters unchanged, for example.
Can I save and reuse styled text?
Yes. Several options are available:
- Styled texts stay available locally in the browser for reuse, by saving with Save.
- Saved texts are found in My Notes (note however that this data is stored in your browser cache — if you clear the cache, it disappears).
- Share is a familiar function that sends the text to another app and does whatever that allows. The button only appears if your device can share; otherwise it is simply absent from the bar.
- Export lets you save it to a UTF-8 .TXT file.
Note: these capabilities are not available in FREE and are reserved for PRO.
Do Save, My Notes and Export work on the FREE plan?
Not on the FREE plan: Save and Export are visible but dimmed, and clicking one offers the upgrade to PRO. With PRO they let you store your styled texts and export the content to a UTF-8 TXT file (special characters are preserved); you then find those texts again in My Notes, which is not a button on this bar but a separate section of the app. Share, on the other hand, is free — it only appears if your device can share. Your preferences (language, settings) are remembered between sessions even on the FREE plan.
How is this different from Word, Google Docs or Pages?
In Word or Docs, when you bold a word, the formatting is a layer laid over the text: it only exists inside the document. Paste that word into a message or a bio and the style disappears. ETeext works the opposite way: the style is written into the characters themselves, so your styled text copies and pastes anywhere while keeping its look.
What happens if I paste text from Word, Docs, Pages or LibreOffice into a social network or a messaging app?
Your computer actually copies two versions to the clipboard: a rich version (heavy, invisible code handling fonts, margins and colours) and a raw version (limited to Unicode). Networks and messaging apps often keep only the raw version — which is why the formatting vanishes.
How do the main families of text software differ?
There are four: plain-text editors (Notepad, TextEdit, VS Code) that only write Unicode; word processors (Word, Docs, Pages, LibreOffice) built for layout and printing, with complex code behind every word; note-taking apps (Notion, Evernote, Apple Notes); and typography apps (iA Writer, Obsidian, Ulysses) that separate content from form with simple tags.
Cloud or local: what is the impact on my privacy and availability?
Cloud apps (Google Docs, Notion) send every keystroke to remote servers: great real-time collaboration, but they need a connection and hand your data to a third party. Local editors like ETeext save everything on your device: privacy, speed and offline autonomy. ETeext is designed offline-first and runs in your browser.
How do social networks, messaging apps and websites react to text pasted from a word processor?
Each destination chooses what it reads from your clipboard. Networks (Facebook, Instagram, X) drop Word's visual code and keep only raw Unicode — which is exactly why a tool like ETeext, which produces real Unicode characters that already look styled, gets through everywhere. Messaging apps (WhatsApp, Slack, Teams) are unpredictable with rich text. And website editors (WordPress, Wix) sometimes import invisible “parasite code” that breaks your page layout.
Any must-know tricks for reliable copy-paste?
Two cleaning techniques: “Paste as plain text” (Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows, Cmd+Option+Shift+V on Mac), which strips all formatting and pastes only the letters; and the “Notepad cleanup” — if text from Word breaks an app or a site, paste it into Notepad or TextEdit first to wash off the invisible code, then re-copy it clean. With ETeext you don't need this: the style is already inside the Unicode characters, so it pastes cleanly everywhere.