Slack has emerged as one of the best communication tools for both in-office and remote teams. Whether you need to quickly connect with a coworker or onboard a new team member, Slack can help make your work life easier. It can take time to fully understand the ins and outs of Slack and how to maximize its effectiveness. Taking the time to learn different Slack hacks and tools is a worthwhile investment: you’ll save yourself time and energy in the long run when you learn to use Slack efficiently.
If you’re new to Slack, have no fear. The platform is remarkably easy to use, and its interface was developed to be both intuitive and user-friendly. Once you’ve mastered the basics and sent your first message (hopefully laden with tears-of-joy emojis) you’ll want to take your Slack game to the next level. Here are twelve tips from business leaders who know their way around a Slack workspace, and have learned how to make the most of this popular productivity tool. Read on for some of our favorite Slack hacks, and you’ll be navigating the channels like a pro in no time.
Use Reminders
“Use Slack to quickly and easily set reminders for yourself or for your team. When you type /remind me into the dialogue bar, followed by the reminder and when you’d like to be reminded, Slack will trigger a reminder just for you. This is really helpful when you think of something after work hours, or when you have an upcoming meeting you need to prepare for. You can also send /remind followed by the reminder to alert an entire channel of an upcoming task or deadline. Reminders are a great way to keep yourself and your team on track and make sure you stay on top of deadlines.” – Dan Bladen, Co-Founder and CEO of Kadence
Take Advantage of Shortcuts
“Slack is full of shortcuts that can save you a lot of time and energy. Learn some of the basics like command + F to complete a search, or command + shift + K to quickly browse your DMs. Slack can also autocomplete names for you if you’re not sure of exact spelling. Hit @ + tab to have Slack automatically complete a name. A lot of Slack shortcuts will become second nature for you once you get the hang of them” – Julie Harris, Co-CEO and Head Of Coaching at Tim and Julie Harris Real Estate Coaching
Tell Slack What Notifications You Want to Get
“When you first get started with Slack, you might find yourself overwhelmed with notifications. An important productivity hack is to set up which notifications you want to get, and which ones you can safely ignore. Go into your Preferences, and select Notifications. You can then choose which messages you want to receive – maybe you want to receive a notification whenever someone mentions you by name, or discusses a project you’re working on. You can add these specific keywords into your notification settings and make sure you never miss an important message.” – Fred Gerantabee, Chief Experience Officer at Foster Grant
Pin Important Messages
“For some channels, you’ll want to pin a specific message to the top of the channel to make sure everyone sees it. Maybe it includes important reference information, FAQ, or a privacy notice. Pinning important messages to the channel will save your team time, so they’re not scrolling looking for important information or asking questions that already have answers within the channel. You can pin multiple messages if needed, if you have a few items that you want to keep top of mind.” – Jason Reposa, Founder and CEO of Good Feels
Use Commands to Save Time
“When you’re short on time, use slash commands to put Slack to work for you. You can use commands to quickly send a message to someone or turn on your Do Not Disturb mode if you’re running into a meeting. Type /dm to send a quick message to a coworker, or /dnd to pause notifications for a set period of time. I use /dnd 30 minutes when I’m jumping on a call and want to give it my full attention.” – Joshua Chin, CEO of Chronos Agency
Try Different Slack Integrations
“One of the great things about Slack is that it can seamlessly integrate with other apps. You can sync your Google Calendar with Slack so that you never miss an event reminder, or with Zoom so that you can easily join meetings without leaving your workspace. You can also sync it with your project management tools, like Asana, to easily organize your various projects. There are also integrations like BirthdayBot that will keep track of office birthdays and anniversaries – these are great for team building and for building friendly rapport with your teammates.” – Rabah Rahil, CMO at Triple Whale
Screen Share to Problem Solve
“Some things are better explained visually, and Slack video calls can be a great way to quickly collaborate with your team and solve problems together. Add multiple users on a call, if needed, and use the screen share option to show your team different product ideas or website designs, for example. You can also draw on the screen while you’re presenting if you’d like to highlight a specific item, or use Group Draw to brainstorm collaboratively.” – Rob Bartlett, CEO of WTFast
Connect Across Devices
“One of the reasons we use Slack is so that people can connect from wherever they are. This can be really helpful if someone needs to step away from their desk for a meeting or a call, but still wants to stay connected and provide feedback on team projects. By downloading Slack to your phone and computer you can make sure you don’t miss important notifications and can keep tabs on projects while you’re away from the office. To make sure you maintain a proper work-life balance, turn on Do Not Disturb mode after work hours so that you can unplug.” – Woody Sears, Founder of HearHere
Avoid Distractions
“Although Slack can be incredibly helpful, it can also be distracting when you’re trying to get deep work done or focus on a meeting. Set your Slack to Do Not Disturb mode when you need to focus, and it will mute notifications until you’re ready for them. You can choose to mute notifications for a set period of time, and your coworkers will see that you have DND mode turned on. Let your team know they can do the same, and how you should reach one another if something truly urgent comes up.” – Bradley Hall, CEO of SONU Sleep
Take Polls
“I like to use Slack polls to get quick feedback from my team. Compose a message in one of your channels, and choose different emoji responses to represent answer options. For example, thumbs up emoji for yes, thumbs down emoji for no. You can also attach documents or files to your poll, if you’re asking your team to vote between different images or proposals. Polls are a quick and easy way to gauge interest or take the temperature on a new idea.” – Brett Sohns, Founder of LifeGoal Investments
Sort Channels
“Slack channels seem to multiply. If you don’t stay on top of things, your workspace will become cluttered with scores of channels and group chats that you don’t use. The problem with channel clutter is that you waste time trying to find what you need. Was that link shared in #marketing, #marketing-team, or #marketing-ideas? Did you send that code snippet to Sherry and Jim, or to Sherry, Jim and Siobhan? To stay productive, cut the clutter. Archive old channels and keep conversations organized in a few key places.” – Dave Nevogt, Co-Founder of Hubstaff
Let Slackbot Do the Work for You
“You can set up the Slackbot to answer frequently asked questions, especially helpful with new employees and team members. Common questions include, “What’s the wifi password?” “What are some nearby lunch spots?” “What time is the weekly all-hands meeting? Head over to www.slack.com/customize/slackbot to customize your bot.” – Muriel Vega, Managing Editor at Hypepotamus
Slack is incredibly popular, and for good reason. By learning to effectively use Slack, you’ll be able to boost your team’s productivity and collaborate more freely. Put some of these tips to use, and try different techniques to see what works for your team. Remember that new integrations and upgrades continue to emerge, so it’s a good idea to check in with other Slack users and message boards to stay apprised of new updates. You don’t have to be a Slack whiz to use it effectively, but having a few tricks up your sleeve will help your team to work smarter.
