10 Hacks Every Slack User Should Know

Slack is one of the most commonly used business messaging apps—beyond basic communication, the service has plenty of built-in features that can help you be both more productive and less overwhelmed by the volume of messages you receive. These are the top tips and tricks to use Slack efficiently.

Create sections to organize your sidebar

If you have dozens of channels and DMs to keep track of and a long sidebar list that requires scrolling, you can create custom sections to keep related conversations together and prioritize those you need most at the top. You can create, for example, a section for conversations with just your team or a grouping of channels and DMs related to a specific project. On the desktop app, tap the three dots next to Channels or Direct messages and go to Create > Create section, then give the section a name. Then, open a channel or DM, tap the star icon, and move the conversation to the correct section. This tool is available only to paid users, so if you're on a free plan, you can use the Filter and sort option (click the gear icon next to the workspace name) to organize your sidebar and show or hide muted channels.

Type forward slash for shortcuts

Slack has a long list of shortcut commands for specific actions in your workspace, such as running apps (creating a document in Google Drive: /drive), carrying out common Slack actions (enabling or disabling Do Not Disturb: /dnd), or automating workflow tasks. Simply type the forward slash into the message field of a DM or channel to browse the list of shortcuts available—many will vary based on which apps are connected to your workspace, but there's also a list of built-in Slack commands ready for use.

Customize your notification schedule to your working hours

If you don't want your device blowing up with Slack notifications at all hours, you can set a schedule for when notifications are allowed through. When Do Not Disturb is on, you'll still receive messages, but you won't be notified. (Slack has desktop and mobile notifications turned on by default.) On desktop, tap your profile photo > Preferences > Notifications and scroll down to Notification schedule. You can allow notifications on weekdays only, every day, or on a customized schedule as well as set specific timeframes. To set this up on mobile, tap your profile photo > Notifications. You can also use slash commands to pause or restart notifications (type /dnd into the message field).

Set frequent contacts as VIPs to prioritize notifications

To stay on top of the most important notifications—whether from people or apps—set up contacts as VIPs. This will move their DMs and mentions to a specific VIP section at the top of your sidebar. You can even allow notifications from VIP contacts to break through when Do Not Disturb is on. To add a VIP, tap your profile photo > Preferences > VIP, then search for the person, app, or workflow you want to add. Under Notifications, you can toggle on Always allow notifications from VIPs. This feature is available to all users on paid plans.

Schedule messages for later

A simple but highly useful feature of Slack is the ability to schedule messages for later, such as during a colleague's working hours or at a regular check-in time. This allows you to create and send messages when they are top of mind, but have them delivered when you actually want them to be read. This is especially helpful when your team works across multiple time zones or on varying schedules. After drafting a message, click the down arrow icon—Slack will suggest times, or you can select Custom time > Schedule Message. You can see your scheduled messages under Drafts & sent on the sidebar.

Use reminders to flag messages for follow-up

If messages are forgotten after you've read them, you can use Slack's reminder feature to flag them for later review. Tap the three dots next to the message in the conversation to bring up the action menu, then select Remind me and choose a default timeframe or set a custom one. Once the reminder comes due, you'll get a notification and see it in the Later section of your taskbar. You can also mark messages as unread, but you won't get a notification at a set time.

Use search modifiers to find specific messages more quickly

If you haven't flagged or saved a message for later, it may be difficult to locate what you're looking for in highly active channels. You can do a basic search using the search bar at the top of the desktop app (or tap the magnifying glass in the bottom corner on mobile), but Slack's search modifiers will help you locate specific text more easily. For example, you can use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase, add in: to find results in a specific channel, section, or DM, or type before:, after:, or on: to find results for a specific time period.

Add custom emojis to your workspace

Slack has hundreds of standard emojis available by default as well as emoji packs with themes like hybrid and remote work. You can also create custom emojis for your workspace—my personal favorites from the Lifehacker Slack are the many iterations of :partyparrot:. Tap the emoji icon at the bottom of any message and select Add Emoji. Tap Upload Image, select an image from your device, and enter a name, then hit Save. On mobile, tap the plus sign at the top of the emoji menu, then select either Take Photo or Photo Library. Your custom emoji will be available to everyone in your workspace. Note: If you don't see the Add Emoji button (or plus sign on mobile), your workspace admin may have removed permissions for creating custom emojis.

Collaborate using Slack canvas

Slack has a built-in collaboration tool called Canvas, which lets you and other users share formatted content that doesn't fit in a regular message. Plus, canvases are static—pinned to the top of a channel or DM—and shareable, so it's a simple way to make meeting notes, agendas, channel summaries, and more accessible. You can create and format a blank canvas or choose a pre-built template. Open any channel or DM and click Add canvas (or the plus icon) to start from scratch, add a saved canvas, or use a template.

Delegate notetaking in huddles to AI

Slack's built-in meeting feature, Huddle, has an AI notetaking option for members on paid plans, so you don't need to go to another video conferencing app or add an integration or ask someone to manually take minutes. AI will take notes, summarize takeaways and action items, and compile them in a canvas shared in the huddle thread for all members to view. Once you start a huddle, tap AI notes: Off in the top left corner, then click Start AI notes & transcription > Start notes. You can also set notes to start automatically in specific channels so no one needs to remember to turn them on. Click the channel name > Settings and tap Edit next to Always start AI notes. Check the box next to Start AI notes automatically for every huddle in #channel-name and click Save.