# Emoji shortcuts for posts can't be disabled (in RTE mode)

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/emoji-shortcuts-for-posts-cant-be-disabled-in-rte-mode/396099
**Category:** Bug
**Tags:** composer, emoji, fixed
**Created:** [February 14, 2026, 9:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/emoji-shortcuts-for-posts-cant-be-disabled-in-rte-mode/396099 "2026-02-14T09:52:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Kianga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/kianga/32/543546_2.png) [@Kianga](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Kianga)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2026, 9:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/emoji-shortcuts-for-posts-cant-be-disabled-in-rte-mode/396099/1 "2026-02-14T09:52:35Z")

</div>

**Priority/Severity** : low

**Platform** : Firefox on Linux desktop, self-hosted Discourse instance running [v2026.2.0-latest +242](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/e26bc210a6d04d0244e40e1558f1d226f1655b03 "e26bc210a6d04d0244e40e1558f1d226f1655b03")

**Description** :

When I type `:)` or `:(` in a post, they automatically get converted into emojis like 🙂 and ☹ while I type. I would like to turn this off, and I thought the admin setting “Enable emoji shortcuts” would do that, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect: Whether it’s enabled or disabled, the text always gets converted into emojis.

**Reproducible steps** :

1. As an admin, go to `/admin/config/emoji/settings` and disable the setting `Enable emoji shortcuts`.
2. Reload the page.
3. Create a new topic.
4. In the rich-text editor, type the characters `:)`followed by a space.
5. They get turned into the 🙂 emoji.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2026, 5:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/emoji-shortcuts-for-posts-cant-be-disabled-in-rte-mode/396099/2 "2026-02-16T05:22:11Z")

</div>

Nice catch, thanks!

[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/37837](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/37837)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Kianga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/kianga/32/543546_2.png) [@Kianga](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Kianga)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/emoji-shortcuts-for-posts-cant-be-disabled-in-rte-mode/396099/3 "2026-02-17T13:40:23Z")

</div>

I can confirm the setting works as expected now. Thanks for the quick fix!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![zogstrip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/zogstrip/32/512781_2.png) [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/emoji-shortcuts-for-posts-cant-be-disabled-in-rte-mode/396099/4 "2026-02-17T14:43:30Z")

</div>