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Effective Collaboration in Slack Channels

Product Team
  • Updated

Setting up notifications

Slack allows you to set up notifications on your desktop and mobile device. By default, Slack will notify you anytime:

  • You receive a direct message (DM).
  • Someone @mentions you or notifies a channel you’re in.
  • Someone uses one of your keywords.
  • You receive a reminder from Slackbot.

Note: You can change this preference to include more all messages for any channel you are a part of by:

  1. Access the Workspace from the top-left navigation menu.
  2. Select Preferences.
  3. Select Notifications.
  4. Under "Notify me about", choose which activity Slack notifies you of.

Mentions

Sometimes you’ll need to call the attention of another member when having a conversation in Slack. When you send a message and include an @mention, the person you mention will be notified.

How to use mentions:

  1. Type the @ symbol.
  2. Enter a member’s name. (will give you a narrowed down list of members to choose from).

Note: You can also type a member’s display name without the @ symbol and press the Tab key to reveal a list of potential matches.

If you mention someone or a channel, it may notify much more than your intended audience, so it is important that you understand when mentioning someone would be appropriate:

Action Who is notified?
@mention someone who's in the channel The member(s) will be notified
@mention someone who's not in the channel The member(s) won’t be notified, but you'll have the option to invite them to the channel or do nothing
@mention someone not in the DM The member(s) won't be notified or allowed to join the conversation

Star channels, messages or files

Use stars to bookmark important items in your workspace and easily reference them again later.

Star a channel or member:

  1. Open the channel or direct message you'd like to star.
  2. Click the star icon below the channel or member name(s). The star will turn yellow to indicate that it's a starred channel. 

Star a message or file:

  1. Hover over a message or file you'd like to star.
    1. To star a message and its thread replies, click the gray star icon.
    2. To star a file, click ••• More actions and select Star file.
  2. To remove a star, click the star icon again, or select Unstar file.

Pin messages

Important messages and their replies can be pinned to the details pane in any channel or direct message, including group messages, for easy reference. 

Pin a Message:

  1. Hover over the message or original file message you'd like to pin.
  2. Click the ••• More actions icon.
  3. Select Pin to channel, or Pin to this conversation in a direct message.
  4. Click Yes, pin this message or file to confirm.

A message will appear in the channel or DM letting others know you’ve pinned an item. Your pinned item will be shown in the details pane

Reactions

Reactions are an emoji response to a message. Reactions can often replace the need for follow-up messages or replies in a thread.

For example, your team could use the ‘eyes’ emoji to confirm someone is taking a look at a case, and then follow it with a ‘checkmark’ emoji to confirm the case has been completed