Work with templates in channels

Note: Templates are being rolled out gradually. We appreciate your patience as we make them available to all customers on our paid subscriptions.

Slack templates bundle canvases, lists and workflows together in a channel. Rather than starting from scratch, choose a template built for a variety of common processes such as managing projects, onboarding new hires and more.

Choose a template

You can create a channel from a template, or add a template to an existing channel. Once you set up a template, you’ll access the canvases, lists and workflows from their tabs in the channel header.

Create a new channel

1. From your desktop, click on the   plus button in the sidebar.
2. Select   Channel.
3. Below Try a template, choose the template that you’d like to use, then click on Next.
4. Slack will automatically suggest a channel prefix, which you can change if you’d like to. Enter the rest of the channel name (and choose a workspace if you're on Enterprise Grid). Then, click Next.
5. Choose a channel type (public or private), then click Create.
6. Slackbot will post a message to the channel when it’s ready to go. Click on the   canvas,   list or   workflows tab in the channel header to view and customise them.

Add a template to an existing channel

Channel managers and people with permission to edit channel tabs can add templates to channels.

1. From your desktop, open a channel.
2. Click on the   plus icon in the conversation header.
3. Select Add template to channel, then choose a template from the list.
4. Choose a template, then click on Add to channel.
5. Slackbot will post a message to the channel when it’s ready to go. Click on the canvas, list or workflows tab in the channel header to view and customise them.

Customise your template

Now that you’ve chosen a template for your channel, you can customise it. Typically, you’ll update your template’s canvas with details specific to your team, project or process, and you may also want to modify the list by adding or removing fields. Review the workflows in your template to finalise their configuration or further customise them.

Canvas

Lists

Workflows

Review the canvas, making sure to look for sections with placeholder text that you’ll need to replace with your own details or instructions.

1. Click on the   Canvas tab in the channel header.
2. To change the image at the top of the canvas, hover over it and click on the   three dots icon. Click on Cover image, then select Replace.
3. Edit the content to personalise it for your team, or remove information that you don’t need. Your changes will save automatically.

By default, anyone in the channel will be able to edit the canvas. To restrict permissions, follow the steps in Canvas sharing, security and access.

Review the list. You can remove or change items, and add or remove fields.

1. Click on the List tab in the channel header.
2. You’ll see a few placeholder tasks, which you can edit or delete.
3. To edit an item, click into the cell and add new text. To delete an item, hover over the item and click on   Open. Click on the   three dots icon, then select Delete item.

By default, anyone in the channel will be able to edit the list. To restrict permissions, follow the steps in Use lists in Slack.

Review the steps in the workflow to see if there are any that you’d like to change. For example, you might want to further customise a message that it sends to your channel.

Edit a workflow

1. Click on the   Workflows tab in the channel header.
   To customise a workflow, click on the   three dots icon and select Edit workflow.
   Click on the   pencil icon next to a step to make changes.
   Click on Save, then click on Publish.

Remove a featured workflow

Some templates feature a workflow in the channel. When a workflow is featured, the message field is replaced by a button to start the workflow. Anyone in the channel can use the workflow, or click on   Send a message to send a regular message. If you don’t want to feature a workflow, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the   three dots icon next to the featured workflow, then select Remove from featured.
2. Click on Remove from featured to confirm.

Use your template

When you’ve finished customising your template, it’s ready to use. Make sure to add people to the channel and let them know where to find the resources that you’ve created in a message or a clip. For more details on working with canvases, lists and workflows, check out these guides:

• Use a canvas in Slack
• Use lists in Slack
• Automations: What is a Slack workflow?
• Guide to Slack Workflow Builder

Who can use this feature?

• All members (by default)
• Available on paid subscriptions