10 Secrets to Mastering Slack

This is the age of working from home. And Slack has made working from home a lot easier.

In this article, we'll discuss 10 amazing Slack tips. With these Slack tips and tricks, you'll be a pro at using this team messaging tool in no time. 

<<< Want to learn how to use Slack effectively? Here’s a Playbook of 100 Slack Tips and Tricks. Download your Free Copy Now!

1. Update Status to let people know when you’re not around

A custom status feature is a perfect way to let your team know when you’re around – and when you’re not.

Just a simple line or an icon can be enough for your colleagues to understand where you are or what you’re up to before sending you a message.

Use this feature to let your team know that you’re on a call, out to lunch, commuting, dog walking, taking nap, random mood vibe, or in a meeting.

Your status will appear right next to your name so that everyone can see it at a glance.

2. Collaborate with your team without leaving Slack

Sometimes you have to make calls for one-to-one communication with your remote team. Slack comes with its own built-in. To make a call, click into a direct message or a channel and click the phone icon at the top of the app.

3. Setting up your timezone in your profile settings

Traveling to some other country? You can update your local time zone in Slack.

Click your workspace name in the top left >>> Choose Preferences >>> Select Language & region >>> Under Time zone, choose an option from the menu.

If you’d like Slack to automatically update your time zone, tick the box next to Set time zone automatically.

4. Need to focus on a task? Utilize “Do not disturb” mode

Need to focus on a task and can’t be distracted? Use the “Do not disturb” feature. 

Visit Your Name > Preferences > Notifications > Set DND Schedule.

You can also disable your desktop notifications, if you’re on Slack throughout the day, you’ll see things pop up as they come in. Nobody has time for those right-side-corner slide messages.

5. Emojis are great at revealing the tone of your message

Text messages have no tone, context, or visual cues. Emojis are great at revealing the tone of your message. A simple emoji can make your message engaging. Use emojis to reveal context when you think you’re being funny or sarcastic.

Simply type +:[character] and start typing to find what you’re looking for — Slack will autocomplete the rest. For example, if you start typing +:ca, you’ll see emojis for cat, car, cake, and more.

6. How to find past messages

You messaged something on a channel and then forgot the details. How can you find your post messages quickly?

Slack search filter is here to help you. Simply search for from:me and sort the results by “Most recent.” And you’ll see all your recent messages, DMs, files, and threads.

7. Save messages and files to bookmark them for later

You can save messages and files to come back later. This feature helps you to mark your to-dos and save something for another time, only you can see your saved items. 

Click the Saved items option in the left sidebar of the Slack desktop app to see all your recently saved items.

8. Switch to Slack’s compact theme

By switching to Slack “compact” theme, you remove much of the noise and don’t need to scroll as much to catch up on conversations.

Go to Preferences > Messages & Media and select Compact under the Theme choices.

9. Utilize Advanced Search

You spend a lot of time scrolling through conversations before resigning yourself to the fact that you’re searching for a needle in a haystack.

Slack Advanced Search is here to help you – You can use it to narrow down your search and find the specific note you’re looking for.

Here are some search parameters:

In: Search a single channel at a time.

from: Search messages from a single user.

after: Narrows the search down to messages received after a specific date.

before: Narrows the search down to messages received before a specific date.

has: is a parameter that lets you search for messages that have a particular element.

10. Create a Post

To make a Post, click the paperclip next to a message block >>> then click the + Create New >>> and select “Create a Post”. A new window appears; it looks like a blog composition interface.

Original Source: Springworks Blog

Want to learn how to use Slack effectively? Here’s a Playbook of 100 Slack Tips and Tricks. Download your Free Copy Now!