Add text formatting buttons to Google+ in Chrome

This Chrome extension can help you remember to use formatting in your Google+ posts so the emphasis comes across at the right place.

Photo by Nicole Cozma/CNET

In 2011, Sharon Vaknin covered how to add a bit of emphasis formatting to your Google+ posts. If you want bold text, surround the text with asterisks *like this*. For italic text, _write it like this_. And for strikethrough -just add these hypens-.

This collection of punctuation for emphasis formatting still works today, but isn't represented on the graphical interface. When you're writing a longer update, you may forget that you wanted to bold or italicize some of the words.

With the Chrome extension Post Editor for Google+, you can quickly format a post without needing to remember any of the punctuation. Instead, emphasis buttons will be added to the posting interface. The end result is a text input box that looks like one you would find on forums, sans the ability to add HTML formatting for links or inline images.

Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

To put these handy emphasis buttons at your disposal, install a copy of Post Editor for Google+. After installing, if you have Google+ open, you'll simply need to re-open it in a new tab -- a browser restart is not necessary.

Start a post on Google+ and you will see the emphasis formatting buttons appear below the text input area. Just highlight text and click the appropriate button to use the formatting. There's also a small selection of symbols to add some character, if you choose.

Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

That's it! Do you have other useful formatting tips for Google+ posts? If so, share them in the comments below!