VIII. Working with Discord IDs
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Discord uses ID numbers to help pinpoint items and objects in the database. Every single message, user, channel, server, emote, etc. has a Discord ID we can use. The reason we prefer using the Discord ID to find objects in the data, instead of something more human like their username, is because Discord IDs are immutable, meaning they cannot be changed. There are other reasons as well, such as efficiency, target objects, and the archival data streams, but those are not important in this context.
Discord, thankfully, has made getting object IDs within the Discord application very easy. All you need to do is turn on "Developer mode", and then right-click on whatever you would like the ID of. A new item at the bottom of the context menu will then let you copy the ID to your clipboard.
- First, go ahead and enter your User Settings
- Once there, scroll down to Advanced, in the "App Settings" section
- Turn on Developer Mode
You can get the ID of a message by either right-clicking it then selecting Copy ID or by pressing the three dots that appear when you hover over a message and then pressing Copy ID.
You can also get the ID of a user by right-clicking their name then selecting Copy ID.
Remember, every single object in Discord has a unique ID! Discord generates their ID using numeric 0-9 for 18 digits, meaning there are 9e17 (I think) possible IDs. That is a lot. Discord will never accidentally use the same ID on tow different things, making this the perfect way to find what you are looking for later.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about Discord IDs!