Do you want to use Slack efficiently? Looking for the best Slack commands to speed up chatting?
According to a Slack survey, paid customers actively spend about 90 minutes per working day in Slack. That’s quite a chunk of time, isn’t it?
Well, that’s where Slack slash commands come into play.
A Slack slash command acts as a shortcut for specific action. With them, you can reduce the time it takes to perform such action, and boost your productivity.
The command action is a forward slash (/) followed by a keyword. For example, if you want to set yourself as away:
- You don’t need to grab your mouse > move the cursor from the message box at the bottom to profile at the top-right > click on profile > click on “set yourself as away.”
- Instead, you can simply type “/away” and tap enter.
Similarly, there are many slack commands that, if memorized, can save you frustration and tens of minutes daily. In this article, you will discover over 28 such Slack slash commands to boost your productivity.
Excited? Let’s begin!
28+ Best Slack Commands
Slack commands to set availability and status
1. /away
The dot next to your display name in Slack indicates your availability. By default, Slack sets and keeps it to “active” when Slack is open on your desktop or mobile device. It shows you “away” only after ten minutes of desktop inactivity or if you close the app on your mobile device.
However, you can set yourself as away manually. And the slash command for it is /away. Just type it in the message box and tap the return key.
2. /active
When your availability is “away,” people won’t expect an answer from you. In fact, most will wait for that green light to communicate in real-time.
But when you manually set yourself away, Slack won’t turn your availability to “active” even when you’re at your desk. So you’ll have to do it yourself to start receiving messages from waiting co-workers. And the fastest way to switch from away to active is using the Slack command /active.
3. /dnd
A Rescue Time study found that an average worker checks their communication tool every 6 minutes. And a habit like that kills the flow and consequently the productivity.
Now, one of the primary reasons people check communication tools is because of notifications. By setting yourself to dnd, you can block all notifications and get in the zone. On Slack, you simply have to use command /dnd followed by a time until you want to pause notifications.
For example, enter “/dnd for 10 minutes” to pause notifications for the next 10 minutes:
Similarly, you can use /dnd until followed by a time to pause notifications till that time.
4. /status
If you want your teammates to know what you are up to, you can set status on Slack. For example, you can set the status to “In a meeting” so no one expects an immediate answer from you.
The Slack slash command to add or update status is /status followed by the status message. For example, “/status in a meeting.” You can also use emoji after /status to display a status emoji.
Slack commands related to channel management & navigation
5. /open or /join
Both /open and /join enables you to open/join public channels or channels you’re part of. Similarly, you can open chat with individuals you have access to using the commands.
- Type “/open #[Channel]” to open a channel and display it on the sidebar.
- Similarly, type “/open @[Name]” to open a chat with the person and display it on the sidebar.
6. /leave
If a channel is no longer relevant to you, leave it by entering the slash command /leave. Once you leave, you won’t get any messages from the channel, and Slack will automatically remove the channel from your sidebar. In case you want to join the channel again (and if it’s a public channel), use the /join or /open command.
You can use /leave to leave individual chats as well.
7. /mute
Don’t want to receive notifications for new activity yet want to stay in the channel? You can always mute specific channels and direct messages with /mute.
You can:
- Type “/mute” and press return in the channel you want to mute
- Or, type “/mute” followed by @[Name] or #[Channel] to mute that particular channel or person.
To unmute, just re-enter the same command.
8. /collapse
Often, Slack channels are filled with images and videos. If you don’t want to look at those images and just read the previous chat, you can use the slash command /collapse to collapse such files from the channel.
Slack won’t remove it, of course, but merely hide it.
9. /expand
If at some point you reach a conversation where seeing collapsed images is necessary, you can click the tiny arrow beside the image name to expand it. Alternatively, use /expand to expand the files in the conversation.
10. /topic
Each channel has a topic that clearly states what the discussions in the channel are about. For example, if you have a ReactJS team, a channel topic can be “React.js: Problem-solving,” where junior developers can put their queries and seniors can resolve them.
Now, say interns join your company, and you want to keep them in the loop + share good resources to teach them. You can add them to the same channel and change the channel topic to “React.JS: Problem-solving + Resources.”
To change the topic, simply use the Slack slash command /topic followed by the new topic.
11. /description
A channel description has information about a channel’s intended use. If the goal of the channel changes, add a new description after /description in the channel message box.
12. /rename
Just like description and topic, sometimes you’ll need to change the channel name. Use /rename followed by new channel name then.
13. /archive
If a channel is no longer needed, you can archive it with /archive command. It will close the channel for new activity, but the message history will remain as it is. Anyone from the channel can search for the messages and unarchive the channel (unless they are guests).
To permanently remove the channel and messages, however, you’ll need to have admin access and delete the channel from the settings,
Slack slash commands for Slack’s built-in functions
14. /search
The /search command will take you to the search bar at the top. From there, you can search through your Slack messages using these advanced searching commands followed by the whole message or keywords:
- in:#[channel]: To look for a specific message in a channel.
- in:@[name]: To look for a specific message in direct messages (DMs) with an individual.
- to:me: Look for messages sent to you.
- from:@[name]: Look for messages sent by an individual.
- has:link: Search for messages that include a link.
- Has:reaction: Explore messages someone reacted to with quick Slack reactions/emojis.
- on:[date/month/year]: Find messages from a particular date.
- during:[month/year]: FInd messages from during a specific month.
- before:[date]: FInd messages from before a particular date.
- after:[date]: FInd messages from after a particular date.
15. /remind
You can’t set reminders of every little thing on your Google Calendar. (I mean, you can, but the calendar will look horrendous + it’s unproductive). But no worries, Slack got you.
If you want to remind something to yourself, someone else, or a whole channel, use the Slack slash command /remind.
Here’s how it’s used: /remind [@someone or #channel] “[what]” [when]
If you forget the format, you can enter “/remind help,” and the Slackbot will help you. Similarly, if you want to see all your reminders, use “/remind list.”
17. /apps
The Slack App Directory has over 2400 apps. You can install any app you need to add functionality to your Slack or business. You simply have to enter /apps followed by the app name to find the app. For example, you can find Social Intent’s live chat for Slack integration with “/apps social intents”:
18. /feed
If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of a particular publication, website, podcast, etc., use the /feed command on Slack.
- Use “/feed subscribe [URL]” to subscribe.
- Use “/feed remove [Sub ID]” to remove the subscription.
- Use “/feed list” to list all subscriptions.
- Use “/feed help” if you don’t know how to use the command.
19. /shortcuts
Enter /shortcuts to see the list of all Slack keyboard shortcuts on the right side.
20. /feedback
Have feedback for Slack? Use the slash command /feedback, and the feedback form will appear on the right side.
Slash commands for collaborations
21. /invite
If someone is already on the Slack workspace and you want to invite them to a channel, use /invite followed by @[Name].
22. /invite_people
If someone isn’t on the workspace and you want to invite them on Slack, use /invite_people followed by their email address.
23. /remove or /kick
Use /remove @[Name] to remove the individual from the channel. /kick’s function is the same; just the emotion is different.
Remember: /remove or /kick only removes the member from a channel. To remove someone from the workspace, you need to be a Workspace admin or owner and will have to remove them from the “Settings & administration” menu manually.
24. /who
Want to know who’s on the channel? Use /who to get a list of up to 100 members in the channel.
Slash commands related to sending messages
25. /me
Someone shared good news in the slack channel, and you want to display your excitement? Use /me followed by your message to italicize it and show it as action text. For example, “/me dancing” will turn into “dancing.”
26. /msg or /dm
If you want to send a message to anyone (or any channel) from anywhere on Slack, use the Slack slash command /msg or /dm. The format is like all other: /msg @[Name] or #[Channel] [Message].
27. /shrug
If you want to display your ignorance, indifference, or the “whatever” attitude through text, use /shrug command at the beginning of a message to append the shrugging gesture (¯\_(ツ)_/¯) at the end of the message.
28. /call
Apart from messaging, you can also call using Slack. So if you want to jump on a call while texting, simply enter the Slack slash command /call.
Slack Slash Commands Using Social Intents
Firstly, if you’re not aware of Social Intents, let me introduce it to you: Social Intents is a live chat software for Slack and Microsoft Teams. It helps businesses communicate with website visitors, provide customer service, collect leads, and close sales deals from within a unified platform.
I’ll focus on the Social Intents for Slack part here.
One of the benefits of using Social Intents is your agents can communicate directly from Slack and use the slash commands to communicate faster.
We have some Slack commands, like:
- /livechat help – to see a list of Social Intents-made commands.
- /livechat end – to close a specific live chat.
- /livechat online – change your live chat app to online.
- /livechat offline – change your live chat to offline.
Besides, we also let users create shortcuts and canned responses from Slack.
Here’s how you can create slash commands for your live chat using Social Intents:
- Open the Social Intents dashboard, and click the “Live Chat” drop-down on the left.
- Select “Shortcuts.”
- Click on “Add Shortcuts” to add the Slack slash command as the Shortcut Name and the message you’d like to trigger as Shortcut Text.
Once set, you can use the slash command /livechat [Shortcut Name] to trigger the Shortcut Message and send the visitors your canned message in a jiffy.
Conclusion
There are no shortcuts to success, but there sure are shortcuts for productivity that leads to success. In Slack, they’re in the form of slash commands. Use them, communicate fast, and win!
Good luck!