10 Things You Didn’t Know You Can Do On Slack

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Slack is one of the most powerful team collaboration platforms, it is among the most widely used messaging tools in the world.

There are a lot of amazing features that Slack offers to improve user experience and communication among teammates and colleagues. 

In this blog post, you’ll learn about some useful things you could do in Slack that you might not know about. 

What is Slack?

Slack is a workspace communication application created to transform communication in companies and improve how information is passed across in a team. 

Although it can be adopted for personal purposes, Slack is mostly used by organizations to interact with their teams and ensure there’s a correct flow of communication. 

Brief History of Slack

Slack started as a tool for Stewart Butterfield’s company, Tiny Speck, during the production of an online game called Glitch. It was publicly launched in February 2014 and has witnessed drastic changes since then.

A few months later in August, Tiny Speck officially changed its name to Slack Technologies. It raised $42.8M just 10 weeks after its launch with over 60,000 daily users

This marked the beginning of greatness for Slack as it got more and more users as time went by. Over 10 million people worldwide now use Slack for communication. 

Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do In Slack

Beyond Slack being a SaaS brand, here are some cool and important features that Slack has to offer beyond just messaging: 

1. Create Posts in Slack

This sounds basic, but you can write long-form content as a post on Slack, it’s more than just sending quick short messages between colleagues.

You can share meeting notes or plans for a project, posts can help you share fully formatted documents in your Slack workspace.

Although you can view posts on your Slack mobile app, you can only create posts on desktop. 

Here’s how to do this:

On your desktop:

  • Click the plus icon next to the message button
  • Select create a post from the menu available 
  • Enter your title and type your post
  • It’ll be saved automatically, you can format it as you wish
  • For more explanation of your post, you can add image(s) by pasting the URL
Slack Create Post

2. Schedule Messages

Did you know that you can schedule your messages to send whenever you want to on Slack? 

Let’s say you have an important message to send for later and you’re worried you might forget, this feature would be perfect for you.

Here’s how you can do that on your Slack app.

For Desktop:

  • Click the compose icon in the conversation or channel you want to send it to
  • Type your message 
  • Click the arrow down around the send icon
  • You can then customize the time you’ll like the message to be delivered

For Mobile:

  • Like on the desktop, click the compose icon 
  • Type your message
  • Tap and hold down the send button
  • Then you’ll see the custom options 

3. Host a Huddle

Slack huddle is basically a phone call created for informal discussions that are likely to happen in physical offices. You can either choose to start a huddle in a channel or use a teammate’s DM (Direct Message).

For the free subscription, a huddle can only contain two participants. On paid subscriptions, you can have up to 50 participants and anyone is permitted to join once it starts. 

Here’s how you can start a Huddle:

For Desktop:

  • Open a channel or a person’s DM
  • Click the headphones toggle in the bottom left corner of your sidebar or press Ctrl + Shift + H for Windows and Shift + H for Mac 

For Mobile:

  • Open a channel or DM
  • Click the headphones icon in the top-right corner of your screen

4. Open a Conversation in Split View

The Split View on Slack lets you access information from different channels or DMs side by side. You can open two different things and view them at the same time without having to move back and forth. 

This can be helpful if you’re attending to two things simultaneously, although this is only available on the  Slack desktop. 

Here’s how you can do this on your Slack account:

  • Press Ctrl on Windows and Cmd on Macbook
  • Click the name of what you want to split in your left sidebar
  • You can adjust the width of the conversation as you would prefer
  • If you’re done you can click the X icon at your top right to exit the view

5. Create Custom Emojis

This is one of the coolest features on the Slack workspace. It’s limited to only members, guests are not allowed to use custom emojis, and workspace owners or admins can restrict the permission for this feature.

Here’s how you can do this:

To add a customised emoji and emoji pack

  • From your desktop, click the emoji icon 
  • Click Add emoji.
  • Click Upload image, and select what you’d like to add 
  • Under Give it a name, put in a name for your emoji, then click Save

To add emoji aliases

  • Using your desktop app, click on your workspace name in the top left
  • Select Customise
  • Workspace owners or admins, you’ll need to click Settings & administration first
  • Click Customise
  • Select Add alias, then click choose emoji
  • Choose an emoji from the menu 
  • You can also enter an alias and the new code you want to use
  • Then save it 

6. Set Reminders

Another cool thing you can do on Slack is to set reminders, this is available to all members but guests can only set personal reminders.

You can set reminders to stay updated with tasks or meeting times,  you can also set reminders for messages you’ll like to come back to. 

Here’s how you can do this:

On Desktop:

  • In the message space, enter the details of your reminder following this format: /remind [@someone or #channel] [what] [when]
  • Send your message to schedule the reminder

Slackbot will proceed to send the person a DM with the reminder details or send it as a message to the channel that you selected.

On Mobile 

  • From a channel or DM, tap the message space 
  • Then enter the details of your reminder following this format: /remind [@someone or #channel] [what] [when]
  • Send your message to schedule the reminder. 

To send a reminder for yourself, click the plus icon in the message space and select the reminder option. 

7. Customise Automated Slackbot Responses

Customised Slackbot responses can be helpful in cases of responses to FAQs, if there are questions frequently asked by your teammate you can customise a response so you won’t have to stress each time they ask.

Here’s how to do this: 

8. Star Important Messages and Channels

This is helpful to keep track of the important information in conversations and channels. The starred messages can be accessible in the starred section of the sidebar.

Here’s how to do this:

On Desktop

  • Go to the message you want to star
  • Click on the channel or user’s name in the message header
  • Click the star icon beside the channel or user’s name 

On Mobile

  • Like on the desktop, open the channel or message that you want to star
  • Select the channel or user’s name in the header
  • Tap the star channel option in the menu

9. Send GIFs

Slack can be more fun when you send GIFs to your teammates and friends. This feature shows the fun and creative parts of having a workspace and it’s great for communicating and interacting with people.

Here’s how you can send GIFs using Slack:

  • In a conversation, click the plus icon next to the message space
  • Click on shortcuts then select Giphy 
  • Select find and share a GIF
  • Type a word or phrase in the text field, then search it
  • You can shuffle to view more options
  • Select your choice and share

10. Birthdaybot

This is also another great feature that shows that Slack is intentional about its users and their personal information and celebrations, like birthdays.

Birthdaybot ensures that everyone is informed about upcoming birthdays. The bot works without filling out any forms and can even suggest perfect gifts for the celebrants. This is a great feature if you don’t want to miss out on celebrating your team members.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the things you can do on your Slack workspace. Slack is changing the narrative of workspace communication and collaboration and we’re here to see it. 

If you enjoyed reading this, then you’ll enjoy reading more from us. We have a team of professionals that are skilled in email marketing and SEO services. Let’s know how we can help you

Inioluwa Ademuwagun

Inioluwa Ademuwagun

Author

Inioluwa Ademuwagun is a content marketing professional with many years of experience in writing content that drives sales. She has worked with different clients from Europe and North America. She’s passionate about writing and using social media for the right purposes. She loves to travel the world and is looking to be a globetrotter soon.

Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 08, 2022

This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

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Interpretation

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Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

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Types of Data Collected

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Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.

Usage Data may include information such as Your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

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We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service. The technologies We use may include:

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Cookies can be “Persistent” or “Session” Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close Your web browser. Learn more about cookies on the Free Privacy Policy website article.

We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

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Use of Your Personal Data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

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We may share Your personal information in the following situations:

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The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

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Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer.

The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.

Disclosure of Your Personal Data

Business Transactions

If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

Law enforcement

Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other legal requirements

The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

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The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Children’s Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If You are a parent or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data, please contact Us. If We become aware that We have collected Personal Data from anyone under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, We take steps to remove that information from Our servers.

If We need to rely on consent as a legal basis for processing Your information and Your country requires consent from a parent, We may require Your parent’s consent before We collect and use that information.

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Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, You can contact us:

  • By email: team@kasandz.com