Introducing Actions: A simple shortcut attached to every Slack message

Turn Slack messages into inputs for your app

Your app’s users are in Slack all day, coming up with ideas, outlining next steps, and assigning owners for their work. Now with Actions, you can build an easy way for them to take action on Slack conversations — turning messages into tasks, tickets, follow-ups or leads with your app. This way, you can not only bring work into Slack, but also create a simple way to move it back out to your own service.

Actions put your app front and center in Slack. Nestled under the ellipsis menu, apps with actions show up on every Slack message in a workspace. Products like Jira, Hubspot, and BitBucket support actions already, and you can start developing with it today from our API site. Here are some examples of what’s possible.

How actions work

You’re probably familiar with Slack’s existing message actions, like “mark unread” or “copy link.” Today’s release enables you to extend this list with up to five custom actions, so people can take a direct next step with your app without talking to a bot or remembering a slash command.

And once someone takes an action, what happens next is up to you. We’ve extended dialogs with more input types, giving you four dynamic menus with which to collect more information. You can present users with dropdown options unique to their team, Slack channels, or account preferences, gathering quick context before sending the payload to your app.

For instance, imagine the process of creating an Asana task based on a conversation happening in Slack. Previously Asana users would have to remember a slash command to start the process, and then manually type up the new task. With actions, customers can use the original message as a starting point, and use a dialog to add helpful context — like a due date, relevant project, and assignee — before creating the task in Asana.

Actions are especially helpful for tasks that would otherwise require an extra browser window, logins, or lookups to complete. With Zendesk’s Slack app, people can quickly create a support ticket from Slack messages — even when they’re on the go.

For example, if someone requests a new mouse or keyboard in Slack, an IT manager can use Zendesk to easily file a support ticket. This all happens in just a couple of clicks, making sure nothing flips through the cracks between conversation in Slack and their team’s core services.

Creating actions just for your workspace

You might want to build custom actions just for your company, connecting Slack to your on-prem tools or internal software, like a helpdesk, knowledge base or wiki, or even your personal project management tools.

Want to learn how it’s done? Join us June 12 for a live demo. We’ll show you how to create a custom app with actions, introduce code samples you can build with, and walk you through the process of getting your integration up and running. Save your spot today, and come with questions!

Actions will start rolling out to Slack customers today on Desktop, and on Mobile over the next few months — but you can start building with it today. Learn more and get started on our documentation site.