Is it possible to use formatting in Gmail's (or others') subject bar?

I don’t think so. because it is a text field for a standard email protocol that AFAIK only allows text characters, and is displayed by practically every email client as text (not layout) information.

Yes, of course you can. Spammers do it all the time. BUT you can’t use your normal BOLD, Italic, etc. – you have to use HTML codes.

So you could make a subject line that says <bold>This is a test</bold> and you would get a bold subject line.

The trick is – would the receiving end handle it properly? That’s not gmail’s issue,

Good to know. I’m glad I asked.

@elbanditoroso What email programs actually process HTML tags in subject lines?

@Zaku gmail, for one. check your spam folder

@elbanditoroso I tested it with just </bold> it didn’t work. I tried it with This is a test</bold> When I went to Sent file it was in bold until I clicked on the email.

…I didn’t italisize the This is a test </bold> by the way.

@flo
1) HTML commands have a beginning and an end
<bold> turns it on, and </bold> turns it off. Note that they have angle brackets and one has a ’/’.

2) For HTML to be recognized, the receiving applications needs to be able to interpret HTML. Not all email handlers do.

@elbanditoroso Actually I made an error the bold is normal in Inbox emails until they are clicked on.

…By the way I sent it to myself (the same email address) Anyway thanks for the response.
Why is it a problem for Gmail to allow the subject bar to be not different fron the body re. formatting?