15 Tips and Tricks to Make Slack Feel Normal in 2020

Slack was already a popular message app in workplaces across the nation , but the dramatic increment in the phone number of peopleworking from homehas made it even more indispensable . From smart way to handle your notification to customizing the port , here are 15 tricks you should be intimate to make Slack go for you .

1. Compose messages instantly

Slack is presently pushing out a major redesign , which you ’ll see in the next match of week if you have n’t already . If you do have the new expression in your web web browser or in your desktop client , you ’ll see a unexampled compose button ( a playpen inside a box ) demonstrate up next to the name of the current workspace .

sink in this to come out writing something . It save you having to pilot to a especial conversation or communication channel , because you’re able to select this from the top , like you would an email . If something cark you before you have fortune to polish off your persuasion , the message is saved in the Drafts link on the left .

2. Put up a Do Not Disturb sign

It ’s easy to get overwhelmed with notifications and alerts on Slack , but there ’s a Do Not commove mode to keep it all in check . When you activate it , you wo n’t hear any sounds or see notification on any of your gadget , and your co - workers will see a lilliputian quiescency symbolisation at the side of your name .

tick the bell ikon ( or the clock picture on the fresh port ) up in the top unexpended niche to choose a meter duration , or pick Do not shake up agenda to have it move around on mechanically . This is utile if you work in a different clock time zone than the residuum of your workfellow . you may also activate it by typecast “ /dnd ” followed by a time time period into the Slack chat battleground .

3. Get reminders from Slackbot

Slackbot jazz all kinds of thaumaturgy and can be as utilitarian as Siri or Google Now by get out you monitor . Open a verbatim message conversation with Slackbot , character “ /remind ” into the Old World chat field of operation , and then leave some reminder school text and a time . You ’ll see a confirmation message on cover .

you may also leave monitor for other the great unwashed and specific channels ( just type “ /remind ” on its own to see various ways in which you may go forth substance ) . If you want to see all of the reminders that are currently active , eccentric “ /remind leaning ” into the schmoose theatre of operations ( you may delete them from here too ) .

4. Organize channels more easily

you’re able to quickly find yourself a member of dozens of Slack communication channel , and the interface update that ’s rolling out now aims to make it easier to manage them — after all , it ’s improbable that every channel you ’re in is of equal grandness or equally officious . you may rank channels as needed , and split them into groups .

Most of this is handled through retarding force and drop . You might want to name all the channel most crucial to your job decent at the top , for instance , and push the social and idle check - chat ones further down . As in the current version of the Slack apps , you’re able to also asterisk transmission channel using the icon at the top of the channel page .

5. Use Slack’s advanced search operators

As with your regular lookup engine of choice , you could use operators to narrow down down your searches in Slack , which is helpful for finding items in busier channels . For model , type “ has : star ” inside the hunt box to look for all starred messages , or adjudicate “ from : username ” to look for messages from a sure individual .

To see all of the wheeler dealer available to you , typewrite “ + ” in the hunt box : you may find content in or to a particular distribution channel , restrict your search to a especial range of dates , and await for message with connexion in them . related to and recent search protrude up underneath as you continue typecast .

6. Sync your status to your calendar

quagmire pride itself in the number of third - company apps and consolidation that it supports , and if you apply calendar in Outlook or Google Calendar , you’re able to use them to sync up your position automatically — multitude will see that you ’re in a meeting without you having to set your status manually , for example .

To get this set up , you need to install theOutlookorGoogle Calendarapp in Slack ( if you have the necessary permissions ) , then switch to it using the navigation menu on the left field inside Slack . Select Turn On to turn on the sync feature of speech straight aside , or you’re able to enable it afterward from the app configurations .

7. Learn the Slack keyboard shortcuts

From Photoshop to Gmail , keyboard shortcuts can help you be more generative , and there are plenty to wreak around with in Slack , too . For example , if you just typewrite something and noticed a mistake , press the Up pointer to get back to it . There ’s afull liston the Slack support situation .

The quick whipper shortcut is useful , too : Press Ctrl+K ( Windows ) or Cmd+K ( Mac ) , then start typing to bound to specific channels or threads . you’re able to use the Esc key fruit as an soft means of marking all the messages in the current channel or conversation as read , or Shift+Esc to punctuate everything in an entire workspace as read .

You might puzzle out in a team with members all over the globe , and in those office it can be helpful to recognise when everyone is working . It minimise the risk of you disturbing them outside of office hour , and also give you a good idea of when they might be capable to reply to request .

To set your own time zona so other people can see it in Slack , click the name of your workspace ( top unexpended ) , then Profile & score and Edit Profile . To set a condition , which can admit more detail about your work time of day or your current emplacement , chatter the Status airfield on the Profile & account panel .

9. Add your own emoji

Everyone loves emoji , and you may add your own by afford up the primary menu ( the down arrow next to your workspace name ) , and choosing Customize Slack . The options you see here will vary depending on how your squad ’s chronicle has been set up . you’re able to lend customized loading content from here , too .

All you require to adjust up a new emoji symbol is a picture of say emoji and a shortcut name for it . Anything you produce will be uncommitted for everyone on your team to see and will be supply to the usance tablet of the emoji menu ( get across the smiley look to the rightfield of the substance field to see all the usable symbols ) .

10. Set up highlight words

Highlight Book let you get Slack notification when specific keywords are mention , whether it ’s your nickname , a undertaking you ’re work on , or just a raw television set show that you want to discuss with your fellow worker . You ’ll get alerts about these in the same way you see mentions and direct messages .

Click the name of your workspace ( top left ) , then opt Preferences and Notifications . you could enter as many word as you like in the My keywords boxwood , separated by commas ( and keywords are n’t case - sensitive ) . you’re able to tweak these terms at any point if you ’re getting too many or too few alerts .

11. Tidy up the feed

Image and link trailer are part of the charm of Slack , but if you ’ve got particularly GIF - happy colleagues or there are a lot of links to wade through , then your screen can get very busy very quickly . Type “ /collapse ” to hide all image trailer in the current channel and “ /expand ” to bring them back .

There are a host of helpful command that begin with the slash symbol — just type “ / ” in the subject matter line of business to see them all bulge out up . Some of them may have been added by the people who place up your Slack channel , and any third - party chew - ins and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ons will have like mastery of their own .

12. Format the text of your messages

If you need help getting your distributor point across , Slack supports the common text formatting tricks found in many messaging apps . Put star around words you desire to bold , and underscore marks around anything you want to seem in italics . The tilde symbol ( ~ ) on either side add a strikethrough effect .

If you ask to create a message that operate on for several personal credit line , then employ Shift+Enter to add new lines without posting the content . It ’s also possible to create blockquotes by preface textbook with an angled square bracket ( > ) . To convey the blockquote across several lines , use three angle brackets ( > > > ) .

13. Keep your place in a channel

you may keep your place in a television channel with an Alt+click ( Windows ) or Option+click ( Mac ) on a particular message — this score it and all subsequent messages as unread , so you may well jump back to it later . A long printing press on a peculiar message brings up the same option ( and several others ) in the Slack peregrine apps .

To change the elbow room that Slack automatically marks messages as read when you jump back into a special team or channel , open up Preferences from the main Slack fare , then choose Mark as read from the left over menu . By default , Slack marks everything in a channel as read once you open it up .

14. Change the look of Slack

Slack has a classifiable default color scheme , but you do n’t have to settle for that looking at if you do n’t want to . From the main Slack carte du jour , choose Preferences and then open up up the Themes menu . There are eight preset ones to opt from , or you could determine up a dissimilar combining of color yourself .

You wo n’t suddenly vary the color scheme for everyone in your company or team — only you will see the Modern feel — and each squad that you ’re a member of can have its own visual aspect mise en scene , which can make spirit prosperous if you ’re jumping around a lot between different Slack teams in one web browser or app .

15. Link to particular messages

Right - chink on a clip mold , press the alternative menu to the right ( the three dots ) , or on peregrine long crush to copy the link for a specific content . you may bookmark this or strike down it back into the channel , for instance , enabling you to cursorily cue your carbon monoxide gas - workers on the nose what they ’ve said in the yesteryear .

you could glue Slack links into Slack conversation and channels , too , which will show the message , who post it , and the timestamp in an indented form , as well as a link to jump to the original content . One way this can come in handy is making it easier to link conversation across multiple channel .

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