As someone else mentioned, this is how Org mode works on Emacs, not only that, but by setting: (setq org-hide-emphasis-markers t) You can hide the markers

As someone else mentioned, this is how Org mode works on Emacs, not only that, but by setting: (setq org-hide-emphasis-markers t) You can hide the markers (*, /, _, etc.) by default, and toggle them with: M-x visible-mode It also has many other features that integrate well with Emacs.