Slack, the $2.8 billion-valuation team messaging service, can increase your team’s productivity by skipping those long email threads and help you obtain necessary information in real time. Your team can be spread over various channels where they can upload documents, set reminders for meetings and have a place to congregate, especially with the increase of remote working.
Here at Hype, we’re big fans of the service. It keeps us on top of our newsletter calendar, meetings and all of the awesome startup features we’re often working on. Slack’s functions are vast (including the many plugins) so that’s why we are giving you 16 Slack Hacks you need to add to your repertoire to increase productivity within your team.
1. Memorize these shortcuts
- COMMAND + F to search
- @ + TAB to autocomplete a name
COMMAND + U to upload a file - COMMAND + K to switch between channels and DMs.
- ESCAPE to mark a single channel as read
- SHIFT + ESCAPE to mark all channels and DMs as read
- COMMAND + SHIFT + M to see a list of all your recent mentions
- SHIFT + ENTER to type on a new line
- SHIFT +COMMAND + S to view all starred messages
2. Set reminders for anything
You often get caught up in meetings or lose track of time while solving a coding problem. Let Slack remind you to do those important items on your list. In the Slackbot message box, type “/remind” and add details. Slack will remind you at the designated time to do that thing that just can’t fall through the cracks.
3. Emojis, of course.
Emojis are essential, especially when you don’t have the words to express your excitement about closing a deal or the latest company news. Just hover over the message, click the smiley face, and search for the proper emoji.
4. Edit those typos
Typing fast can often lead to errors, especially if you’re on your phone (ugh Autocorrect!). Luckily, Slack has an edit (and delete!) function under the three dots to the right of your message. It’s especially handy if you put your message in the wrong channel. It happens to the best of us.
5. 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.
6. Customize your notifications
For each channel you’re in, hundreds of notifications will pop up every hour. Instead, because you can’t forego doing work to read every message that pops up, edit your notifications for each channel. Maybe you only want an alert if your username is mentioned. Or maybe you want every activity possible. It’s up to you.
7. Is your team in different timezones? Don’t wake them up.
Before you send notifications to your team spread around the world, in the @channel, Slack will warn you that you might not want to ping everyone and wake them up. Select a smaller group or forego the tag.
8. Reduce eyes on certain channels
Maybe you don’t want your boss in a channel where you’re having GIF battles or perhaps only the marketing team needs to be in there. Take those extra folks off the channel (nicely!) by typing /kick @username.
9. Create a bulleted list for your next staff meeting
Got a quick stand up meeting with your team? Create bulleted lists by typing option + 8 on Mac and sending it off to your team before the meeting. No printed agendas or lost emails. Or use it for your daily to-do list.
10. Star important messages or documents
Uploaded documents and important information (like passwords or leads) can get lost in the Slack channel. Star documents or comments so you can easily access them later. Want to look at them all at once? Go to the star on the top right of your Slack desktop application for a full list of starred items.
11. Need a break from the constant chatter? Snooze away
Press snooze for an hour or two so you can concentrate on your next deadline without interruption.
12. Trying to show a colleague two different hues for your next report? Type out the hex color code
If you type a hex color code (like #FFFFFF), a color swatch will appear next to it. A designer’s dream.
13. On a big project? Set a notification when the client’s name is mentioned (or other related words)
Tell Slack to keep an eye out for specific words and alert you whenever they’re mentioned. Go to Preferences > Notifications > Highlight Words and enter the specific words (maybe a company, project title, team, etc).
14. Hide inactive and/or irrelevant channels
Star the channels you always use to keep them at the top. If you want to hide the rest, then go to Preferences > Advanced Options > Channel List. Under Channel List, select “Hide Channels… unless they’re starred.” It will make your left column a lot less cluttered.
15. Or mute them too.
Maybe you just don’t need a particular channel today, go ahead and mute it under Channel Settings. Unmute it when you’re ready to jump back in.
16. Best yet, find your work/life balance
Set a range of times, perhaps 10 p.m.-7 a.m., when you won’t receive any Slack notifications under Do Not Disturb. You deserve a break too!
What’s your favorite Slack Hack? Tell us over on Twitter.
