The Wonderful

World of Slack
Messages
Understanding Slack Messages
Sending a Message
1. Click on the message icon at the top of your workspace.
You can also click on the plus sign next to Direct messages in
the lower part of the sidebar.
2. From the drop-down menu, either type a few letters of the person’s
name or scroll down until you find him or her.
3. (Optional) To attach a file to your message, click on the paperclip icon
in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
4. (Optional) Click on the @ icon if you'd like to mention another
workspace member in your message.
5. (Optional) Click on the emoji icon and select one if you want to spice
up your message or add a reaction.
6. Press the Enter key on your keyboard.
You can also send DMs to multiple members. You follow the same process
covered in the preceding steps. Instead of choosing one recipient in Step 2,
though, select as many recipients as you like
Performing basic message actions
Saving message drafts
Much like with email, Slack lets you save drafts of DMs. Simply enter some
text into the message pane. Move to a different pane and Slack saves your text
as a draft.
To access all your drafts, click on the Drafts view at the top of your workspace

Marking messages as read or unread

At some point you’ve probably used your email program’s “Mark as read”
feature. Slack offers the same ability in both channels and conversations. To
mark a read message as unread, follow these steps:
1. Hover over the message.
Three dots appear next to the message along with the message
More actions.
2. Click on Mark unread.
When you mark a previously read message as unread, Slack bolds the name of
the person or channel name in the sidebar. The visual indicator reminds you
that the ball is in your court.
Formatting your messages
Perhaps you want to emphasize certain elements of your DMs (direct messages) to individuals or within
channels. For instance, Elaine Benes of Seinfeld fame wants to go beyond merely inserting explanation
points to accentuate her points.
Fortunately, Slack offers plenty of options if you want to spice the format of your message. Slack easily
allows users to do each of the following:
• Create numbered and bulleted lists.
• Italicize and bold text.
• Insert code from different programming languages.
• And more.
 Finding people in your workspace
Slack conveniently lets you find fellow workspace members
in several ways.
1. Click on the People view in the top half of the sidebar.
2. Type some letters of the person’s name in the search bar
or just scroll down until you see the person’s name or
photo.
You can filter by role and even deactivated users by
following these steps:
3. Click on the People view in the top half of the sidebar.
4. Click on the filter icon next to the search bar.
Editing messages
If you make a mistake, you don’t need to send yet another message to everyone. After you send a DM,
you can edit it afterward. To do so, just follow these steps:
1. Hover over a message from a colleague and three dots appear on the right in a pop-up menu.
2. Select Edit message.
3. Make whatever edits to the message you like.
4. Click on the green Save Changes button.
Slack saves your changes.
Deleting messages
To delete one of your messages, follow these steps:
1. Hover your mouse over the message that you want to eradicate.
Three horizontal dots and the More actions icon appear.

2. Click on Delete message.

Slack confirms that you want to obliterate the message for good.

3. Click on the Delete button to complete the kill.

The message disappears from Slack for good.
Muting conversations
Say that you want Slack to stop pestering you with notifications about an especially noisy individual or
group conversation. You easily mute it by following these steps:
1. Click on the conversation that you want to mute.
2. Click on the information (i) icon in the top right-hand corner.
Underneath the profile image of the person with whom you’re conversing, Slack
displays a three-pane tab below the word Details.
3. Click on the More tab on the right.
4. From the drop-down menu, click on Mute conversation.
To restore proper notifications for the muted conversation, repeat this process but click on Unmute
Conversation in Step 4.
Setting message-specific reminders
To remind yourself about a specific DM, follow these steps:
1. Mouse over a DM or channel message.
2. Click on the three horizontal dots.
Slack displays the words More actions.

3. Click on Remind me about this.

Slack displays a pop-up window that offers you a number of options from 20 minutes to next
week.

4. Select the time and/or date that you want Slack to send you a reminder about the message.
Slack notifies you about the message with a notification at the time specified in Step 4.
Saving DMs and channel messages
To save a DM or channel message, follow these steps.
1. Hover over a message that you’d like to save.
Slack displays a menu with five icons.
2. Click on the white bookmark icon.
It is the second one from the right.
Slack turns the bookmark icon red.
You can now find a shortcut to the item in your Saved view in the top half of the
sidebar.
Pinning DMs to conversations
To pin a comment to a conversation:
1. Hover your mouse over the DM you that
want to pin to the conversation.
2. Click on Pin to this conversation.
Slack automatically pins the message to the
top of the conversation.
To unpin a message from the larger
conversation, repeat the preceding steps but in
Step 2, click on Un-pin from this
conversation. You can also click on the X in
the upper right-hand corner of the message.
Note that removing the pin does not delete the
DM.
Sharing in Slack
Sharing files
At some point in your Slack journey, you’ll want to share documents that you’ve created in other applications with your colleagues and
maybe even with yourself. Typical examples include spreadsheets, documents, photos, and presentations
Slack’s new Files view makes this a snap. To upload a file that you intend to share, follow these steps:
1. Click on Files in the sidebar.
2. Click on the white Upload a File button in the upper right-hand corner.
Slack prompts you to locate the file on the computer.
3. Find the file and upload it.
You can do this in the same way as you do with email attachments. It’s probably the Open button, but the exact name will hinge upon
your computer’s operating system.
4. (Optional) From the prompt, enter a message about the file.
5. (Optional) Click on the blue Add file link to add another file.
Slack allows you to upload multiple files at a time.
6. (Optional) From the drop-down menu, choose the channel, group of users, or app with which you want to share the file(s).
Again, you can share files with yourself — and no one else.
7. Click on the green Upload button.
Sharing messages
Sharing messages from one public channel to another
In this example, you want to let people from one department know about a decision that people in the
other department have made. The following steps show you how to share messages from one public
channel to another:
1. Mouse over the message that you want to share.
2. Click on the rightward arrow that appears.
3. Under the words Share with, search for channel with which you want to share the message.
Optionally, you can add a few words about this DM à la forwarding an email with introductory
comments.

4. Click on the green Share button.

You have now shared your message with members of the other channel.
Sharing messages
Sharing files from existing messages
To share a file from an existing message that you have sent:
1. Mouse over the file that someone has sent you in Slack.
2. Click on the rightward arrow that appears.
3. Under Share with, click on the destination for the shared file.
The destination can be a person or a channel. You see a familiar prompt.

4. (Optional) Add a message to provide some context around the file.

5. Click on the green Share button.