Best Slack features and customizations you should try
What's the story
Slack, a communication platform designed specifically for the workplace, has been a great boon to businesses during the pandemic.
With over 10 million daily users, Slack has become an important part of our professional life. But do we know everything that is there to know about Slack?
Let's delve deep into the Slack universe to look at features that will make our lives easier.
Pronunciation
Don't let your co-workers say your name wrong
Do you have co-workers who pronounce your name wrong and butcher it every time? If you do, this Slack feature lets you record your name's pronunciation and add it to your profile.
Just so that everyone gets it, you can even add a phonetic text version.
Click the Profile icon > Choose Profile > Tap on Edit Profile > Click Record Audio Clip.
Keywords
Get notifications when a keyword is mentioned
Are you interested in a particular topic that is being discussed at your workplace and would like to get notifications when someone mentions that topic? Slack has got you covered with keyword notifications.
Again, click the Profile icon > select Preferences > scroll down to My Keywords > Enter your keywords and separate them using commas.
You'll be notified whenever someone mentions the keyword.
Scheduling
You can schedule when to send messages
Slack allows you to schedule several things, including messages and the Do Not Disturb (DND) mode.
On the desktop app, messages can be scheduled by selecting the down arrow near the send button after typing the message. Long press the send button to schedule messages on mobile.
DND can be scheduled from Settings and administration > Workspace settings.
Distractions
Slack lets you mute distracting channels and chat threads
Like everything else in life, Slack isn't all rainbows and unicorns. There are always distracting chat threads or channels that affect your concentration.
To unfollow chat threads, find the first message > select the three-dot menu > tap Turn off notifications for replies.
To mute channels, select Get notifications for All Messages below the channel name > Click on Mute Channel.
Customizations
You can create you own custom Slack theme
Are you not satisfied with your current Slack theme? Click the Profile icon > select Preferences > Click Themes. From here, you can choose from all the options available or even create something new.
Now, let's talk about a feature that everyone should try - Create your own emojis. Click the workplace name > Tap Administration > Select Customize > Click Add Custom Emoji.
Search
Quick Switcher helps in searching for channels or threads
If you want to jump quickly to a channel or a thread on Slack, a short command can help you. Press Command+K on Mac and Ctrl+K on Windows to open the Quick Switcher. Enter the channel name or keywords in the empty box.
There is another way to simply search. Open the search bar > Choose any of the tabs to narrow your search.