19 Slack Productivity Hacks You Need to Know to Get Ahead

Good ol’ Slack. It was initially created as an instant messaging software, but gosh! It’s become so much more.

Not only can you chat away with your colleagues and associates, but you can also use it to manage things likes sales processes and workflows. Even jobs like logging, monitoring, and closing tickets can all be handled in Slack.

And the best part is, you can do this all in one place — the Slack platform!

I mean, what’s not to love?

It’s productivity hacking powers continue to revolutionise the way teams communicate. Also, it’s no secret that Slack is the chief instigator of the slow (but arguably certain) death of emails in workplaces worldwide.

This alone wins it some serious brownies points yet Slack took things even further with its efficiency-promoting shortcuts, settings, and commands.

They help you stay in the know with industry news and your company’s updates, on track with your workload and most importantly, help you get stuff done.

Now, you’re probably wondering what these lifesavers are.

So, to give you a head start, I’ve compiled a list of the handiest productivity boosting hacks.

Here we go…

1) Make keyboard shortcuts your closest allies

When you’re pressed for time, need to view something quickly or simply feeling lazy, keyboard shortcuts are your best friends.

Be sure to memorise them for maximum swiftness (and extra street cred, of course). Soon, you’ll be so nimble on Slack, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them.

To get you started, let's take a look a few useful ones:

Checking out some new designs your colleague just made? See them in more detail:

Zoom in: ⌘ and + in Mac / Ctrl and + in Windows

Zoom out: ⌘ and — in Mac / Ctrl and — in Windows

Get a quick sense of what’s going on in your channels by having a flick through them:

⌘, Shift, L in Mac or Ctrl, Shift, L in Windows

Been away from your desk or had your mobile on silent? Find out what you’ve missed:

Hit ⌘, Shift, A in Mac or Ctrl, Shift, A in Windows

Need to shoot a quick private message?

Use the /msg command and fire away!

Want to get the gist of conversations going on in your account?

Flick through each chat and channel using a quick command:

⌘ and K or ⌘ and T on Mac

Ctrl K for the Windows lovers

This command will kick open the Quick Switcher. From here, you can navigate up and down your message feed by scrolling through or just use the up and down arrow buttons. If you hit something that catches your eye, hit ‘enter’ to open that message.

Sorted.

2) Format your messages for an added kick

Everyone has at least one friend or colleague who is the unofficial grammar police for your group (if you don’t, then it’s likely you’re it, sorry!).

But as annoying as our grammatically enthused friends can be, we must admit, they’ve got a point.

Using correct grammar and eye-catching formatting to get a point across certainly has its place, even on a casual platform like Slack.

Some of the best formatting options for emphasising your view include:

- Bolding

- Italics

- S̵t̵r̵i̵k̵e̵t̵h̵r̵o̵u̵g̵h̵s̵

Look at it this way, often people use Slack for work. So, just because you’re using a messaging system, it doesn’t mean all punctuation and grammar should be thrown out the window.

It may seem simple and verging on the point of patronising, but it’s important to note that using clever formatting were appropriate can save you from a multitude of problems and misunderstandings.

On a lighter note, when used correctly, they can make for some hilarious reading. Just look:

My ̵b̵e̵s̵t̵ ̵f̵r̵i̵e̵n̵d̵ associate is coming into town this week.

Ouch.

3) Use GIFs to express what you’re thinking

Who doesn’t love a good Gif? Keep them in your arsenal as rapid response tools you can whip out to:

- Show how you feel about something

- React to a comment

- Offer your opinion

- Answer a question

- Get a quick laugh out of your team

All in zero time. No wonder they’re so popular!

To get in on this hack, activate the Gifs in your ‘Preferences’ tab under ‘Animations’.

Here, you can give permission for Gifs and Emojis to be shown in your chat, by selecting the option.

Then, you can trigger a Gif in your chat by typing /giphy plus the emotion or thing you want to show.

4) Make friends with Slackbot or create your very own

Slackbot is a very clever robot that lives in the Slack system. You can rely on it to answer all your Slack related questions, so you don’t have to spend time figuring everything out yourself.

Use Slackbot to stay organised by setting up reminders for important tasks, events, and meetings. Simply type /dm @slackbot plus your message in the Slackbot chatbox (which can be found in your direct messages) and ask away!

Don’t worry, neither your team or channel will see your chats with Slackbot so you can ask the most basic questions without fear of losing face.

Phew!

And you don’t have to stop here.

You can also create your very own Slackbots to offer a helping hand to your team and customers.

What makes this even better is the fact that you won’t have to write any code! A welcomed relief for programming novices among us.

On to the topic of customer service, as much as we all love our clients, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to answer every one of their questions and still get your own work done.

This dilemma could be a serious threat to your productivity but luckily there is a solution.

Set up automated responses with your Slackbot.

This way, when a customer types in your pre-chosen keywords, Slackbot will respond with relevant information they need, saving you from the back and forth messages and dreaded admin.

Using Slackbot to its full capacity will undoubtedly boost your efficiency and save you loads of time. You can find some useful info on how to set up your bot here.

5) Set alerts for important keywords

There are some things you just can’t afford to miss, like people talking about your brand, for example.

Good or bad, it’s important you know about it and you can use Slack to do exactly this.

Get notifications in Slack when people mention certain words like your business name or username (you’re sent alerts for these two by default in your Slack account).

And guess what, you can get even more advanced with it. Set up alerts for key phrases your clients or prospects use and sales related words.

It’ll give you insight into where some of your prospects are in your buyer’s journey and how your clients are finding their experience with you.

This is priceless.

When this feature is used correctly, it’ll help you:

- Strength your marketing funnels

- Make better-informed marketing decisions

- Stay a step ahead of the competition in your product development, customer service, and client retention

Slack walks you through step-by-step on how to set up this cool feature up on their website.

6) Active on Twitter? Get alerts on Slack

Yes, it’s true! You can integrate Twitter with Slack! This cool hack will help you stay on top of what’s going on in the Twitter-sphere.

This is HUGE, so I’ll give you a moment to do your happy dance….

Finished? Great! Now back to the post…

Slack and Twitter are great, but people sure can talk!

So, what is a busy professional to do? After all, we all know how important Twitter is for B2B companies. So, having a presence is non-negotiable no matter how time-consuming maintaining it may be.

That’s why this awesome integration is such a game changer. With it, you can banish the all too common FOMO that comes from being away from social media and the overwhelm from having multiple conversations on social platforms that you must track.

Talk about Twitter heaven!

You can use this feature to follow accounts, set up auto-tweets and even choose which channel you want your tweet info to appear in.

In other words, this combo is a must have if you want to reclaim your time AND get leads from Twitter.

7) Boost your collaboration efforts by syncing Google Drive

Don’t you hate it when important notes get hidden deep in long threads? You’re already running behind and now you’ve got to waste another 15 minutes conjuring up buzzwords to raise this mysterious file from the email burial grounds also known as sub-category folders.

What about when you become so swamped with messages, files, and documents, coming at you from various platforms that you miss something super important?

Then, of course, there are those times when you can’t work out who is doing what and where.

Ugh. It’s so frustrating!

It makes you look unorganised at best and at worst… well, let’s just say you won’t be winning employee of the month any time soon.

So, understandably, this scenario could have you scrambling for a software, scrap that, anything, that could centralise your workflow.

And then, you find yourself asking questions like:

‘Surely there must be something out there that can sort this mess out once and for all, right?’

Well, there is.

By taking advantage of the Google Drive integration, you and your team can create documents, edit work, share files, post and monitor comments and so much more.

Then, you simply upload your work to Google Drive and you’re good to go!

And, guess what?… You guessed it, this is all done within Slack. In your chats to be more specific.

This is great because everyone will know where to go to find their work and like magic, there’s an audit trail that shows who edited what and when.

This helps to avoid nightmares like duplicate files being edited by different people.

It also prevents delays due to confusion on who is working on what and missed tasks that got lost in the abyss that is the email inbox.

Result.

Just think of the time you’ll save…

8) Get desktop notifications for the important stuff. Ignore the rest.

Now, if you’re a true productivity hacker (which I’m guessing you are since you’re reading this post), you’re most likely the person that goes quiet in group chats when you’ve got a lot of work on and unrepentantly goes MIA if the topic of discussion is uncompelling.

It’s not because you’re antisocial. But instead, it’s because you know distractions (even those in the form of a quick laugh with your friends or colleagues) are enemies of productivity.

And, most importantly, you value your time and want to meet deadlines, crush goals and keep your clients happy.

That’s why someone as ambitious as you are, needs this feature in their life.

It’ll keep you focused on what’s important and allow you to shut out everything else.

The setup takes a couple minutes of your time, but seriously! It’s a life saver. Just think about it, if your client sends an urgent message whilst your knee deep into other work, you’ll be alerted so you can reprioritise, see to the matter and avoid any trouble.

Direct messages, mentions, and keywords are already set up by default in your account. But, if the default settings aren’t to your taste, you can tailor them to your liking by look, sound, and subject.

It’s no biggie.

Simply go to ‘Preferences’ > ‘Notifications’ > ‘Notify Me’ > then select which things you would like Slack to be notified on.

Done.

9) Use emojis (strictly for efficiency purposes, of course)

Isn’t it crazy how busy some days can get? Then, at the same time have an equally active message box rammed with support and update requests.

You’d be forgiven for wanting to hide under a rock until the storm has passed. But your team and clients are waiting for your response, so you can’t do that.

But, to ease the pressure, it’s ok to let people know you’re working on their request by sending a quick emoji. You can even combine emojis to give a more rounded response, so let your imagination run wild!

If you’re not feeling too creative, a simple thumbs up, thumbs down or ok, will do the trick in most query replies.

And, if you’ve got your own custom made or personal favourites feel free to upload them on to Slack and get sending!

To get started, go to:

Your workspace name > ‘Customise Slack’ > ‘Custom Emoji’> upload the emoji image files you want to use > hit ‘Save’ and you’re good to go!

10) Allow newbies to sign up through your company domain

If a recruit or business partner has an email attached to your company domain, they can set themselves up on Slack without you having to waste time individually sending out invites.

It also gives newly on-boarded hirers and collaborators a chance to move around Slack by themselves, get used to how it works and then ask questions when as and when they need to.

This bags another big time saving for you, your team and new joiners as you can skip the full-blown Slack training session, which let’s be honest, as much as we all love Slack, would much rather avoid.

Goodbye admin, hello freedom!

11) Stay secure by signing out from every device in one big swoop

If you work in a shared space or split the use of devices between your team, chances are you’re you may be logged into your Slack account on somewhere without even knowing.

What’s more, it can be difficult to retrace your steps to individually log out of each one.

Come to think of it, no one has time for that or even wants to do it, which makes a potential security breach even more possible.

But fear not, Slack heard your cries and has come to your rescue with its fantastic one-button sign out feature.

It’s must use if you’re serious about keeping your account details, chats and work protected.