Image: Stephen Philips from Upslash
You already know what Slack is. It's that software that helps you do your job better. It's that platform for team accessibility that eases communication.
Now, you are wondering- and so what? Well, there is more to Slack.
If you are new to Slack, you are most likely traditional in maximizing it. You log into your workplace, scan for relevant messages, respond to them, and upload a report on your work etc. etc. etc. Boring!
Here are 'new' ways to maximize Slack.
5 ways to maximize Slack
If you think you have seen all of Slack, these may come as additional knowledge:
1. Make use of "my keywords" in the notification
This is for you if you are often distracted in the middle of an important conversation or project when someone writes something that's not relevant to you. This is for you if you want to get your stuff together-
Use Slack's my keywords feature to filter out messages that contain specific words or phrases you want to be notified by.
For example, you can avoid notifications about HR-related announcements and only receive alerts when your boss has something important to say. Log into you Slack workspace, go to Preferences, to Alerts & Notifications, and select "Turn off all notifications" in the General section. Then, add a new keyword under Filters > My Keywords:
For instance, if you want to receive notifications about an "appointment", type appointment in the My Keywords section as seen here:
If you want to receive notifications about "break, coffee time, content, edit" etc., write them like this in the My Keywords section and space them with a comma:
If you are a content writer who is also in a writers and marketers' Slack community like me, use these keywords to specify the notifications you'd like to receive. This may make your job hunting easier as you'd receive essential notifications.
2. Take advantage of Slackbot
Slackbot is a built-in bot that can help you with team onboarding, reminders, and more as an administrator. It can be customized to suit your needs like storing info about the team, answers to FAQs, or daily tips for employees.
This ensures that all employees receive the same information at the same time. It saves you time and effort in training them on how to use Slack (or explaining a project or company policy over again). Especially when there are new entrants.
For example, every team member will receive a notification/guide about how to use Slack regardless of when they join. You can program the bot to do that.
Slackbot can even be used to effect order. You customize the bot to send warning messages when a user uses sensitive words, it will do so accordingly. Take a look at this image from Dannielle Sakher:
Dannielle shares an image of the trigger words the community is not comfortable with. On the right side are the Slackbot's customized responses to such words or phrases.
To do this, go to Settings and slack.com/customize/slackbot. Add the word or phrase you want the bot to track. In the image above, the words you want the bot to track are in the left column.
As represented in the image, you can write how you want the bot to respond in the column by the right. You can separate each phrase you want the bot to track and respond to with a comma.
When you do that, you'd get something like this:
Apparently, guys is considered a trigger word, a gender-biased word. This is why it has been flagged as a word the bot should track and correct.
You can also use the bot to moderate channels and what is shared in the workplace, especially if you don't want an exchange of links on one channel or another.
3. Explore the App Directory
Slack is awesome, but it’s even better when you use it to connect with other tools as an administrator. Over 1,500 apps to get more out of Slack and pursue productivity are available in the Slack App Directory.
You can connect with tools like Trello, Google Docs, Jira, Twitter, and many others. How?
If you are sharing a Google Docs link, you can stay on the app to access it. This way, you get to integrate your Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides into Slack.
To give a little perspective: When a team member shares a file with you, you'll be notified with options to View on Google Docs or View on Slides directly from Slack without leaving the conversation where it was shared.
If the file is open in another tab in your browser, you can drag it into your current workspace. If you haven't installed Google Drive into your Slack workplace, you can start now.
If you are using your phone, you'd receive a message like this:
If it were a PC, you'd see this:
You can do the same with Trello and other apps of choice. If you integrate Trello, you can mention anyone on your team using Trello (from Slack) and they'll get a notification. You can get the best out of the two worlds so far you have a team on Trello and another on Slack.
4. Use shortcuts
Shortcuts make life easy.
Slack has a ton of built-in shortcuts and it doesn't matter if you're a user or an admin at a workplace. It can be tricky to set up. Everyone loves using automatic commands once in a while (especially Ctrl D, Ctrl C, Ctrl X, Ctrl V, etc., so why not give it shot?
Shortcuts make life easy.
Rather than go to messages to start a conversation or continue an existing one, you can easily type Ctrl N on Windows or ⌘N on Mac iOS to create a new message.
To quickly access the help center, you can hit the F1 key on both Windows and Mac iOS devices. If you want to create your shortcut, follow this boring step:
- Go to your Slack settings.
- Go to Manage Apps & Customization, and then, click on Customize Your Workspace under Shortcuts & Integrations.
- You'd find "Pre-defined shortcuts," click on New Pre-defined Shortcuts at the bottom of the section.
- In this new window, enter your command followed by Alt+x on Mac and Ctrl+n on Windows. For example: /replyAltX or replyCtrl+n. Then, choose an icon from one of three categories: Emoticons, GIFs (which are a big deal now, even in digital marketing), or YouTube Videos (so when someone says something shocking or hilarious you can post it right away). In other words, you are creating command shortcuts that tally with a key on your keyboard.
- When you're through with other changes you'd like to make, hit Save Changes and that's all!
5. Tweak your notifications
As a user or administrator, if you want to turn off notifications you don't want or need, you can tweak your notifications by channel. All you need to do is left-click a channel you don't want to receive notifications from again and click change notifications as seen below.
You can then disable notifications by choosing your options as seen below:
You can also tweak this for individual channels. For example: "#general," "#marketing," etc. This way, you'll relieve yourself of any notifications that could make you sick.
When you're done with work and you want to have nothing to do with Slack for the day or the weekend, utilize the "Pause notifications" or "set as away" feature on your profile.
Conclusion
You made it here, and you are possibly exhausted to try out point four. Don't feel overwhelmed by the long list of features. Start with one or two. Build up from there.
It's easy to feel intimidated by the number of options available in Slack, but you can give any of your choices a try. It makes things easy, and that's why it's loveable.