Collaborate effectively in channels

Communication at work happens in different places, like emails, chats and calls. This can result in silos that make it difficult to work effectively and share information.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use Slack to:

• Work in channels
• Share files and clips
• Communicate clearly

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Work in channels

In Slack, communication with your team about specific topics takes place in channels. When you work in channels, use mentions to get the attention of the right people and emoji reactions to simplify communication.

Mention a teammate

Mention a group

Add an emoji reaction

If you have a question for a specific teammate, you can mention them in a channel to get their attention. They'll receive a notification and the rest of the team can follow along for context.

Try it: In a channel, use the  symbol to mention a teammate when asking them a question.

On paid subscriptions, you can create user groups to notify groups of people at once, rather than mentioning each person individually.

Use emoji reactions to simplify communication and acknowledge messages with a few clicks. Watch the video below to learn more.

Share files and clips

You can add files to any conversation and record audio and video clips to collaborate with your teammates more easily.

Add files

Record clips

Say you need to share a file with project info. By adding it to the channel dedicated to that project, the file and the messages about it stay together with the rest of the conversation. You can browse all the files in a conversation from the   Files tab in the conversation header. 

Try it: Drag and drop files into the message field to add them to a conversation.

You can also record a clip and share your screen to take others through the latest version of a project. Anyone in the channel can play and reply to your recording when they have a few minutes.

Try it: Click the  camera icon next to the message field to start recording a video clip.

Communicate clearly

To add clarity to communication in Slack, you can format your messages. You can also schedule messages to send in the future or edit messages you've already sent.

Format messages

Schedule messages

Edit messages

Say that you’re providing feedback about a document. To make it easier to scan for the team, add list formatting to your message.

If it’s not the best time to share a team-wide announcement quite yet, you can schedule a message to send in the future by clicking the arrow to the right of the paper plane icon.

Did you make a mistake in a message that you’ve already sent? Edit your message to fix typos or delete it to start over.

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