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Custom emoji

Custom emoji can be used by all users in an organization (including bots). They are supported everywhere that Zulip supports emoji, including emoji reactions, messages, stream descriptions and user statuses.

Add custom emoji

  • Instructions for all platforms

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

  2. Select Organization settings.

  3. On the left, click Custom emoji.

  4. Under Add a new emoji, enter an emoji name.

  5. Click Upload image or GIF and add a file in the PNG, JPG, or GIF file format. Zulip will automatically scale the image down to 25x25 pixels.

  6. Click Add emoji.

Emoji names can only contain a-z, 0-9, dashes (-), and spaces. Upper and lower case letters are treated the same, and underscores (_) are treated the same as spaces.

Bulk add emoji

We expose a REST API endpoint for bulk uploading emoji. Using REST API endpoints requires some technical expertise; contact us if you get stuck.

Replace a default emoji

You can replace a default emoji by adding a custom emoji of the same name. If an emoji has several names, you must use the emoji's primary name to replace it. You can find the primary name of an emoji by hovering over it in the emoji picker, while the search box is empty (you may have to scroll down a bit to find it).

Deactivate custom emoji

  • Instructions for all platforms

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

  2. Select Organization settings.

  3. On the left, click Custom emoji.

  4. Click the trash () icon next to the emoji that you would like to deactivate.

Deactivating an emoji will not affect any existing messages or emoji reactions. Anyone can deactivate custom emoji they added, and organization administrators can deactivate anyone's custom emoji.

Change who can add custom emoji

This feature is only available to organization owners and administrators.

By default, anyone other than guests can add custom emoji to the organization. However, you can restrict the ability to do so to specific roles.

  • Instructions for all platforms

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

  2. Select Organization settings.

  3. On the left, click Organization permissions.

  4. Under Other permissions, configure Who can add custom emoji.

  5. Click Save changes.

Your feedback helps us make Zulip better for everyone! Please contact us with questions, suggestions, and feature requests.