How to use Slack effectively

How to use Slack effectively How to use Slack effectively

Slack is a popular Cloud-based utility that gives you access to a wide range of features crafted to enhance team communication and collaboration. It is a good alternative to Skype, which account you may want to delete. Slack enables you to share information in chat rooms, distribute documents, easily manage to-do lists, start video conferences, and so much more. In addition, you can install various extensions to get access to even more advantages. The program is compatible with a wide range of third-party services that might prove to be of good use when collaborating or communicating with other people. Some great examples include Google Drive, Zoom Meetings, Dropbox, Twitter, and many others.

There's more to this chat tool than meets the eye, but you need to know how to use it first. If your co-workers or collaborators are on Slack, several hacks and tweaks will help you work a lot faster and more efficiently. In this article, I will show you how to master Slack on your Windows PC. Here's what you can do:

Tutorial assets

You will need to download the following software to follow along with this tutorial.

Managing teams by channel

There are multiple differences between teams and channels in Slack. For example, one team may participate in various channels. You can have one team sharing info in different types of chat rooms, like Product Development, Product Modifications, and Product Bugs. So, a solution for optimizing workflow would be to create separate groups for your team, based on their topic. It might also help you find the information you need (with the help provided by the built-in search tool) a lot quicker and easier.

Browse Channels In SlackBrowse Channels In Slack

Silent Mode

If you're like me, sometimes you need silence and wish to work without being distracted by notifications. The utility features an option that, once enabled, it prevents the tool from showing any notifications. Still, you will see "badges" on the program's icon. Fortunately, Slack provides you with an option that completely prevents notifications from being displayed on your screen and helps you stay focused on your current work.

Here's what you need to do:

Step 1

Head to the Preferences panel of the tool -> Notifications.

Accessing Slack's PreferencesAccessing Slack's Preferences

Step 2

Look for the "Do Not Disturb" option and enabled it. You can choose the preferred interval of time for preventing the program from sending notifications.

Enabling Do Not Disturb Option In SlackEnabling Do Not Disturb Option In Slack

Set reminders

Setting reminders in Slack can help you keep track of your deadlines and meetings, especially if you're the kind of user who is dealing with a busy schedule. To set a reminder in Slack simply start a message with "/remind " and type the information you need. For example, you can add an item like "/remind me to call John Smith at 2PM".

Make a habit of cleaning your channels

If you're the type of user who used Slack for a while now and joined multiple channels, then you most likely ended up dealing with a large number of chat rooms that are no longer relevant to your work. Leaving this type of channels will always be a good idea as you would find the info you actually need a lot easier and you won't waste your time checking unneeded details.

Conclusion

In this guide, I showed only a couple of tweaks you can make in Slack. The list is a lot longer. My guess is that it's worth spending some time to discover new hacks your own, such as configuring the Notifications settings according to your needs or organizing your Channels more efficiently. Have you found better ways to master Slack on your Windows PC? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Alternative downloads

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