What rich text actually does in an embedded service deployment

Rich text in a Salesforce embedded service deployment means your chat visitors can format their messages — bold, italic, bullet points, links — instead of sending plain text only. When you enable it, the chat box shows formatting buttons above the message field, and the agent on the other end sees the formatted message as intended.

Without rich text enabled, a visitor who types this is important and wants it italicized will just see plain text arrive in the agent's inbox. With rich text on, they can select the text, click the italic button, and the agent receives it formatted. It's a small feature that makes conversations clearer when someone needs to emphasize something or share a structured list.

This setting lives in your Salesforce org's embedded service configuration, not in a separate tool. You control whether visitors see formatting options when they open the chat window.

Key Takeaways

  • Rich text formatting is turned on in Salesforce Setup under Embedded Service Deployments, in the Chat Settings section of your specific deployment.
  • When enabled, visitors see bold, italic, underline, bullet list, and link buttons in the chat message box.
  • The setting affects only the visitor side — agents always receive the formatted message if it was sent with formatting.
  • Disabling rich text removes the formatting toolbar but does not prevent agents from sending formatted messages to visitors.

Where to find the rich text setting in Salesforce

Open Salesforce Setup and go to Feature Settings > Service > Embedded Service Deployments. Find the deployment you want to edit and click its name to open the configuration page.

Scroll down to the Chat Settings section. You will see a checkbox labeled Enable Rich Text Editor (or sometimes Rich Text Formatting depending on your Salesforce version). Check the box to turn it on, then click Save at the bottom of the page.

The change takes effect when ready for new chat sessions. Visitors who already have the chat window open may need to refresh their browser to see the formatting buttons appear.

What visitors and agents actually see

When rich text is enabled, a visitor opening the chat window sees a row of formatting buttons above the message input field: Bold (B), Italic (I), Underline (U), Bullet List, and Insert Link. They type their message, select the text they want to format, and click the button.

The agent in Salesforce Service Cloud sees the message with that formatting applied — bold text appears bold, bullet points appear as a list. If rich text is disabled, those buttons never appear to the visitor, so they cannot format anything. The agent's side is not affected by this setting; agents can always send formatted messages back to visitors regardless of whether the visitor-side editor is on.

Why you might turn rich text off

Some organizations disable rich text to keep the chat interface simpler, especially if their visitors are on mobile devices with small screens and the extra buttons take up space. Others turn it off because their use case does not need formatting — a quick support question rarely requires bold or bullet points.

Disabling it does not break anything. Visitors can still send messages; they just cannot format them. Agents can still receive and send formatted text. It is purely a question of whether you want to offer the formatting tools to people starting a chat.

Testing whether rich text is working

After you enable the setting and save, open your website in a new browser window and load the page where your embedded service chat appears. Click to open the chat window and look for the formatting buttons above the message box. If you see them, rich text is on.

Type a test message, select some of the text, click Bold, and send it. Log into Salesforce Service Cloud and find that chat transcript in your Omnichannel queue or chat history. The message should show the bold formatting. If it does not, clear your browser cache and try again — sometimes cached versions of the page do not reflect the new setting right away.

Common reasons rich text buttons do not appear

The most common reason is that the page or browser has a cached version of the chat widget. Clear your browser cache, close the chat window completely, and reload the page. If the buttons still do not show, log back into Salesforce Setup and confirm the checkbox is actually checked and saved.

Another possibility is that your Salesforce org or deployment type does not support rich text. Older versions of Salesforce or certain deployment configurations may not have this option. If you cannot find the checkbox in Chat Settings, check your Salesforce release notes or contact Salesforce support to confirm your version includes the feature.

If the buttons appear but do not work when clicked, the issue is usually a browser extension or security setting blocking the formatting script. Try the chat in a private or incognito browser window to rule that out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does enabling rich text slow down the chat?

No. The formatting buttons are lightweight and do not affect chat speed or performance. The only difference is that the message input area is slightly taller to make room for the toolbar.

Can agents see rich text formatting if visitors do not have it enabled?

No. If you disable rich text on the visitor side, visitors cannot send formatted messages. Agents can still send formatted messages to visitors, but visitors cannot format what they send back.

What happens to formatted messages if I turn off rich text later?

Old messages in chat transcripts keep their formatting. Turning off the setting only prevents new visitors from seeing the formatting buttons. It does not erase or change formatting in past conversations.

Can I enable rich text for some deployments but not others?

Yes. Each embedded service deployment has its own Chat Settings. You can turn rich text on for your sales chat and off for your support chat by editing each deployment separately.