Slack is a feature rich chat program designed for businesses and groups. It promises to eliminate tons of emails and makes keeping in touch with each other at the office easier. Because the app has so much to offer it can get confusing to use. Many users don’t even know about the many neat features that make the app even better and just use it because their company requests it. If you want to really learn how to be better at Slack and become a master at it then check out these Slack tips and tricks:
Learn the Commands
Slack uses many slash commands to make doing things easier. This is when you add a back slash before a command word. This command tells Slack to perform a certain task for you. Knowing these commands by heart will make using the app easier. You can perform tasks with a quick type instead of tapping around the app. Some of the best commands include:
- /msg: This command lets you send a private message to a user without having open private messages, find the user, and send a message. Just type /msg and then the users name and then type your message. When you submit the message it will go to the users private messages and not appear where everyone can see.
- /remind: This command tells Slack to remind you about something at a specific time. You set the time and the message to receive from Slack.
- /shrug: This fun command adds the shrug emoji to your message automatically.
Learn Your @ Options for Quick Messaging
Adding an @ before a user name will let you mention the user in your message. They will receive an alert that someone mentioned them and they can view the message right away to reply, if necessary. While is great for sending messages to individuals, you can also use the @ command to send messages to groups. Use @group, @channel, @everyone to send the message to a group, channel, or everyone at once.
Integrate Apps
Many other apps work well with Slack. You can use Google Drive, IFTTT, Twitter, and Giphy for example. When you sync these apps with your Slack app you can do so much more. With Google Drive you can add documents to messages with ease. You can even pin those documents to a channel or group so that it is easily visible without hunting for it in a post. Giphy lets you add fun gifs to messages. Twitter lets you see Twitter posts without having to go to Twitter. IFTTT has way too many uses to mention so just play around with it and see what it has to offer.
Use Stars as Reminders
You can highlight a star on any post and it will show up in a list of starred posts. This is useful when you want to remind yourself to reply to a post, read a long post later, or download a document. Just star any post that you want to remember later. Then look at the starred posts to remind yourself what you wanted to do.
This also works with private messages. You can star messages and they move to the starred list. This can be confusing because it disappears. You could also mark a message as unread so that Slack will continue to tell you that you have an unread message until you finally have time to read it.
Create Highlight Words
This nifty little feature of Slack lets you see the posts you want to see and weed out the rubble quickly. You create a list of highlight words and anytime a post pops up with that word you will receive a notification from Slack. You can then see the post right away. This is great so you don’t miss important posts while scrolling through less important posts. You can create words and phrases that are used often. Create highlight words about meetings, blog posts, or your best friend’s cat. Add and remove highlight words as you wish.
Create Your Own Emojis
Emojis are fun and add a bit of goofiness to messages. While there are plenty of emojis to use with Slack, you can also create your own custom emojis. This is a fun idea to bring a bit of personality to your channels and groups. Create emojis that everyone in the group will understand, maybe use inside jokes, and that fit the group dynamic. All you have to do is import a picture, give it a name, and it will be added to the emoji lists.
Copy and Paste Past Messages Using the Timestamp
The timestamp in Slack does more than tell you when a message was sent. It also includes a link to the message itself. If you want to bring up a past message in a new one you can copy and paste the timestamp in the message box. The old message will appear with your new post for everyone to see what you were referencing.
Use the Quick Switcher
The Quick Switcher is probably the best feature on Slack. You want to find an old message so you can copy and paste the timestamp? Use the Quick Switcher. It is essential a search box that you use to find groups, messages, channels, and more. Just start typing what you want to find and the Quick Switcher will give you suggestions after just a few letters. The search makes it easy to find what you need quickly without having to search around Slack.
Slack’s many features give it a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it you will find how easy it makes keeping up with your group. Use these tips to learn how to be better at Slack. You will soon become a Slack master.
