Slack Tips and Tricks That Actually Save Time

This is an independent guide. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Slack Technologies, LLC or Salesforce, Inc.

Most people use about 10% of what Slack can do. They type messages, scroll through channels, and occasionally react with an emoji. That's it. Meanwhile, the person sitting next to them (virtually, of course) is jumping between conversations in a blink, finding month-old decisions in seconds, and sending messages that look like they were formatted by a designer.

The difference isn't talent. It's knowing a handful of tricks.

If you're brand new to the platform, start with our guide on what is Slack. If you already know your way around a workspace, this page is for you. We'll cover keyboard shortcuts, message formatting, notification control, search operators, and workflow automation — all practical, all useful from day one.

Keyboard Shortcuts That Save Time

Slack has dozens of keyboard shortcuts. You don't need all of them. These six will cover 90% of your navigation.

Cmd+K (Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux) — Quick Switcher This is the single most useful shortcut in Slack. Press it and start typing a channel name, a person's name, or even a keyword. Slack jumps you there instantly. No scrolling through a long sidebar, no hunting for the right channel. Just type and go.

Sara used to scroll past 40+ channels every time she needed to check #design-reviews. One day a teammate told her about Cmd+K. She tried it, typed "des," hit Enter, and was there in under a second. She hasn't scrolled the sidebar since.

Cmd+Shift+A — All Unreads Opens a single view of every unread message across all your channels. You can read through them and mark everything as read in one pass instead of clicking into each channel individually.

Cmd+Shift+M — Activity (Mentions & Reactions) Shows every message where someone @mentioned you or reacted to your message. Perfect for catching things you missed while you were away.

Cmd+/ (Ctrl+/) — Shortcut List Forget a shortcut? This opens the full list right inside Slack. It's a cheat sheet you'll never lose.

Up Arrow — Edit Your Last Message Sent a message with a typo? Press the Up arrow key immediately and Slack opens your last message for editing. No right-clicking, no menus.

/remind — Set a Reminder Type /remind me to follow up on the proposal in 2 hours and Slack will ping you at the right time. You can also remind yourself about specific messages or remind other people. It's a quick to-do list that lives inside your chat.

For a deeper walkthrough of the basics, see our guide on how to use Slack.

Message Formatting Tricks

Plain text gets the job done, but a little formatting makes your messages easier to scan — especially in busy channels.

Bold and italic: Wrap text in *asterisks* for bold or _underscores_ for italic. Use bold for key points and italic for emphasis.

Strikethrough: Wrap text in ~tildes~ to cross it out. Handy for showing what changed: "The meeting is at 3 PM 4 PM."

Code blocks: Use single backticks for inline code and triple backticks for multi-line code blocks. Developers use this constantly, but it's also great for sharing error messages, URLs, or anything you want to stand out visually.

Blockquotes: Start a line with > to create a blockquote. Useful when you're replying to someone and want to quote their original message for context.

Bulleted and numbered lists: Use - or * at the start of a line for bullets. Use 1. for numbered lists. These render as proper formatted lists, not just lines of text with dashes.

Link previews: Slack automatically unfurls links to show previews. If a preview is cluttering the channel, click the small "x" next to it to collapse it. You can also disable link previews in your preferences.

Fun slash commands: Type /shrug to append ¯\(ツ)/¯ to your message. /tableflip adds (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻. They're silly, but they're part of Slack culture.

Tip: If you're working with custom emojis and reactions, ask your workspace admin about adding team-specific emoji. Custom reactions like :ship-it: or :approved: can turn a simple emoji response into a lightweight approval workflow.

Notification Management

Slack notifications are helpful until they're not. Left at default settings, you'll get pinged for every message in every channel you've joined. Here's how to take control.

Mute channels you don't need real-time updates from. Right-click any channel and select "Mute channel." You'll still see unread indicators, but you won't get notifications. Great for high-volume channels like #random or #social where you want to browse when you have time.

Set a Do Not Disturb schedule. Go to Preferences > Notifications > Notification schedule and set your working hours. Outside those hours, Slack holds all notifications. People can still send you urgent messages and override DND if needed.

Use keyword notifications. In Preferences > Notifications, scroll to "My keywords." Add words that matter to you, like your project name, a client name, or "deploy." Slack will notify you whenever anyone uses those words in any channel, even channels you haven't muted.

Organize your sidebar with sections (paid plans). Drag channels into custom sections like "Active Projects," "Reference," and "Social." Collapse the sections you don't need right now. This isn't just about looks — it makes your brain process fewer items when you scan the sidebar. Custom sidebar sections require a paid plan (Pro, Business+, or Enterprise+).

For a deeper look at taming your alerts, check out our full guide on Slack notifications.

Search Like a Pro

Slack's search bar is more powerful than most people realize. Instead of scrolling through months of messages, use these operators to find exactly what you need.

from:username — Show only messages from a specific person. Example: from:@jess finds everything Jess has posted.

in:channel-name — Limit results to one channel. Example: in:#product-launches narrows your search to that channel only.

has:link — Find messages that contain a URL. Useful when someone shared a link weeks ago and you can't remember where.

has::emoji_name: — Find messages that received a specific emoji reaction. For example, has::eyes: finds messages with the :eyes: reaction. Use hasmy::emoji: to find messages you personally reacted to. Great for locating popular posts or decisions that got a lot of thumbs-up.

before: and after: — Filter by date. Example: after:2026-01-01 before:2026-02-01 shows messages from January only.

during:month — A shortcut for date ranges. during:february shows everything from last February.

is:saved — Shows only messages you've saved (bookmarked). If you save important decisions and references, this is a fast way to find them again.

Combining operators: You can stack these. from:@alex in:#engineering has:link after:2026-01-15 finds links Alex shared in #engineering after January 15.

Last quarter, Tomek needed to find a pricing decision the team made in October. Instead of scrolling through two months of #product messages, he typed in:#product pricing decision during:october and found the thread in five seconds. He bookmarked it this time.

For more on setting up channels effectively so search stays useful, see our guide on how to create a Slack channel.

Workflow and Automation Tips

Slack isn't just a chat tool. It can automate small tasks that eat up time during the week.

Schedule messages. Click the small arrow next to the send button and choose "Schedule for later." Write a message at 11 PM and have it arrive at 9 AM so you don't ping someone during their off hours. This also works in any channel.

Set reminders on messages. Hover over any message, click the three-dot menu, and choose "Remind me about this." Slack will resurface that message at the time you pick. It's a simple way to follow up without copying the message somewhere else.

Use Workflow Builder for recurring tasks. Workflow Builder lets you create automated flows without writing code. Common examples: a daily standup form that posts to a channel at 9 AM, a new-hire welcome message that triggers when someone joins a channel, or a feedback form that collects responses and sends them to a manager. For a full walkthrough, check our guide on Slack Workflow Builder.

Save important messages. Hover over any message and click the save icon (or press A when the message is focused) to save it. Your saved items live in the Later view in the sidebar. Use this for action items, decisions you'll need to reference, or links you want to read later.

Pin messages in channels. Admins and members can pin messages to a channel. Pinned messages appear at the top of the channel details panel. Pin onboarding docs, team agreements, or frequently referenced links so no one has to ask where to find them.

Channel Organization Tips

A messy sidebar makes Slack feel overwhelming. These habits keep things manageable.

Create custom sidebar sections (paid plans only). In the sidebar, click "Create a section" (or right-click on "Channels"). Name your sections based on how you work — "Active Projects," "Teams," "Clients," "Low Priority." Then drag channels into the right sections. Note: custom sidebar sections are available on Pro, Business+, and Enterprise+ plans.

Save important channels. Click the save icon at the top of any channel to add it to your Later list, or drag frequently used channels to the top of your sidebar. This keeps your most-used channels easy to reach without scrolling.

Collapse sections you aren't using. Click the arrow next to any section name to collapse it. If you have 60 channels but only work in 10 daily, collapse everything else and expand when you need it.

Archive old channels. Finished a project? Archive the channel instead of leaving it hanging around. Archived channels are still searchable, but they won't clutter anyone's sidebar. Any workspace member can browse archived channels if they need the history.

Use consistent naming conventions. Encourage your team to follow a pattern like team-engineering, proj-website-redesign, client-acme. When everyone uses the same prefixes, the Quick Switcher (Cmd+K) becomes even faster because you can type the prefix and see all related channels at once.

For step-by-step instructions on setting up channels the right way from the start, read our guide on how to create a Slack channel.

Slack is a trademark of Slack Technologies, LLC, a Salesforce company. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Slack Technologies, LLC or Salesforce, Inc.

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