Slack is the startup that’s changing workplace communication everywhere, and it’s done the very same to the Cutline Crew. A few months ago, after test driving it with a handful of employees, we dove in head-first to embrace the world of Slack. And man, we are so glad we did.
So what’s the best way to take advantage of Slack? Here’s our favorite tips and tricks:
Organize your channels by type
To stay organized, we put a category in front of each channel, followed by an underscore and then the specific topic. For example, for agency channels, we name them #agency_cutlinenews and #agency_socialmedia. For our random channels, we put “misc” in front of them – e.g. #misc_cats and #misc_books. It helps keep your channels in a nice order, rather than a crazy alphabetical jumble.
How to? Whoever makes the channel needs to be sure to add the correct category to the front when they make it, or edit it after. It’s easiest to have the same people make all the channels so they can make them uniform!
I may or may not be a part of twenty five different channels. A little overwhelming when you’re looking at the entire list. But, to make it easy, you’re able to star channels to move them to a special section at the top. I love using it to keep my most important and most-used channels easily accessible.
How to? Go into the channel, and hover over the name at the top left, and a star will appear next to the # symbol! Click it and it will turn yellow and add it to your Starred list.
We frequently use Google Hangouts for meetings, but the downside is when your computer starts pinging with Slack messages, and turning off the sound would mean silencing your client or fellow Cutliner. Definitely not what you want! But good news – you can quickly mute Slack for the time of your meeting to keep your meeting ping-free.
How to? On the top left where Slack shows your company name and your username, there’s a little bell symbol. Click on the bell and you’ll be able to snooze notifications, allowing you to choose from 20 minutes to 24 hours. You can even set up a Do Not Disturb schedule so your regular meetings or busy times will be auto-muted!
Respond with an emoji
We’re a chatty bunch around here, and we’re always one another’s cheerleaders for our work – which sometimes leads to long reaction or cheer chains! Discovering that you can respond with emojis in line with posts not only make it fun to respond, but keep our channels from turning into loooong chains of one message and 10+ reactions.
How to? Hover over a message and you’ll see a few buttons appear on the far right side, and one of them is an emoji face. Click on it and you’ll be able to scroll through Slack’s emoji and choose whichever (and any amount!) of emoji you want to showcase your feels.
Slack has a bunch of tricks that you can do by simply typing /[text]. For example, /away toggles your away and active status, /mute mutes the current channel you’re in, and /dnd turns on Do Not Disturb. You can even type /giphy [funny] of /giphy [party] to get GIFs from Giphy tagged with funny or party [Warning: it’s basically GIF roulette, and there’s no guarantee that it’ll be SFW]. My favorite? /shrug creates ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Heck, you can even order a Lyft by typing /lyft.
How to? In any channel or direct message, you can type / to get the list of commands, or quickly type them in if you know what you want. If you’re doing something channel-specific, make sure you’re in the right channel!
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