Use emoji and reactions

Emoji are a spin on common emoticons. In Slack, emoji are both fun and helpful for getting work done — use them to enhance your messages or add emoji reactions to quickly respond to messages.

Tip: Learn how to add your own custom emoji and aliases to your workspace or how to manage your emoji preferences.

Add emoji to your messages

You can add emoji to your messages in two ways: by typing the emoji code or selecting an emoji from the menu.

Type the emoji code

On any device, type a standard emoji code in the message field, using a : colon followed by the code or emoji alias. If you don't know the exact emoji code, you can search for a word to find the emoji you're looking for. 

Select an emoji from the menu

Desktop

iOS

Android

1. Click the  smiley face icon in the message field to open the menu.
2. Use the icons at the top of the menu to browse categories, or search for an emoji code.
3. Click an emoji to add it to your message.

Tip: Click the 🖐 hand emoji in the bottom-right corner of the emoji menu to select a default skin tone. You can also right-click to customize the skin tone for emojis with multiple people.

1. Tap the message field to open your keyboard.
2. Tap the   emoji button or the   globe button on the keyboard.
3. Tap an emoji to add it to your message.

Note: The steps above give you access to iOS emoji. To use Slack emoji, type the emoji code in the message field.

1. Tap the  smiley face icon in the message field to open the menu.
2. Tap an emoji to add it to your message.

React to a message with emoji

An emoji reaction can often replace the need for a follow-up message. You can hover over or tap and hold reactions in a conversation to see who added them.

Add a reaction

Desktop

iOS

Android

1. Hover over the message you’d like to add a reaction to.
2. Click the  Add reaction icon and select an option.

1. Tap and hold the message you'd like to add a reaction to.
2. Choose a frequently used reaction at the top of the menu, or tap the
     Add reaction icon to find another one.

1. Tap and hold the message you'd like to add a reaction to.
2. Choose a frequently used reaction at the top of the menu, or tap the
     Add reaction icon to find another one.

Any reactions you add to messages will be highlighted in blue. Simply click or tap the reaction to remove it from the message.

How it works

Tip: With one-click emoji reactions, you can quickly react to a message when you hover over it with suggested emoji. Learn how to enable and customize your one-click emoji reactions.

React to content in a canvas with emoji

On desktop, instead of adding a comment, you can use emoji to react to the text in a canvas.

1. From a canvas, click and drag to highlight the text you'd like to react to.
2. Click the  Add reaction icon, then select an option.