Salesforce apps for Slack

Salesforce and Slack come together to help you manage your sales pipeline or customer service more efficiently. Read on to learn more about the available options for interacting with Salesforce through Slack, and for our recommendations for the best experience.

What's new

Salesforce has built a suite of Salesforce for Slack Integrations that can be used alone, or in combination with each other and the Salesforce for Slack app. While installing the Salesforce for Slack app isn’t required, we recommend it to ensure that all your Salesforce apps can interact, and to simplify authentication and administration with one sign-in for all your apps.

As the suite of Salesforce for Slack apps grows, the Salesforce app that was built by Slack will be removed from the Slack Marketplace. For the best experience going forward, we recommend installing from the available Salesforce for Slack Integrations and visiting the Salesforce Help Portal for support and to learn more about which apps will best suit your needs.

If you choose to install the Slack-built Salesforce App instead, read on for installation and configuration instructions.

Note: If you’re installing a Salesforce app to Slack for the first time, we recommend installing the Salesforce built integrations for the best long-term experience. The below information applies only to the Slack-built Salesforce app which will not be supported indefinitely.

---

The Salesforce app (built by Slack)

The setup

Using the Salesforce app requires two apps that connect Salesforce and Slack. Each app provides different functionality:

The Slack app installed to Salesforce

• Available in Salesforce AppExchange
• View Slack messages associated with a record
• Send Salesforce records to Slack
• Set up record alerts in Slack channels

The Salesforce app installed to Slack 

• Available in the Slack Marketplace
• View Salesforce records for standard objects and any configured custom objects
• Route relevant alerts to channels
• Add Slack messages to Salesforce records

In order to use the Salesforce app in Slack, a Salesforce System Administrator will first need to install and configure the Slack app in Salesforce.

Install and configure the Slack app for Salesforce

Salesforce System Administrators can visit Configure Salesforce for use with Slack to install the Slack package in Salesforce, configure standard and custom objects, set user permissions, and more. Once that’s complete, members can follow the steps below to install the Salesforce app to Slack or connect their accounts if the app has already been installed to their workspace.

Tip: If you’re on Slack's Enterprise Grid plan, you can install the Salesforce app at the org level and add it to any workspaces that need access to Salesforce from the admin dashboard.

Install the Salesforce app to Slack

Check with a Salesforce System Administrator to make sure the Slack app for Salesforce has been installed and properly configured before installing the Salesforce app to your Slack workspace.

1. Visit the Salesforce page in the Slack Marketplace.
2. Click Add to Slack.
3. You’ll be taken to the Salesforce app landing page. From there, click Add to Slack.
4. Follow the prompts to authenticate your Salesforce account and finish installing the app. 

Tip: Before connecting Slack to your production Salesforce instance, you can test your setup. To do so, click the Connect to a Salesforce sandbox org? link below the Add to Slack button on the app landing page.

Connect your Salesforce and Slack accounts

Once both apps have been installed, connect your Salesforce and Slack accounts.

1. From the Slack desktop app, click  Apps at the top of your left sidebar. If you don't see this option, click  More to find it.
2. Search for and select Salesforce.
3. From the app's Home tab, click Connect Account. 
4. Once Slack and Salesforce are connected, click Open Slack to return to Slack.

Note: You can also connect Slack and Salesforce by clicking on a Salesforce alert in a channel, then following the prompts to authenticate Slack with your Salesforce account.

Search and share Salesforce records in Slack

By default, the Salesforce app will return search results for six standard Salesforce objects:

• Account
• Case
• Contact
• Lead
• Opportunity
• Task

You may be able to search for custom objects if your Salesforce System Administrator has configured them in Salesforce. We recommend contacting your System Administrator if you’d like to request access to specific custom objects in Slack.

To search for and share a Salesforce record in Slack, follow the steps below:

1. Click the  plus icon next to the message field.
2. Search for and select Find and share a record from the menu.
3. Below Search records, enter the name of the record you’re looking for (or select it from the drop-down menu).
4. Click View record. 
5. Click Share. 
6. Choose a conversation from the drop-down menu and click Share.
7. Click Done.

Set up Salesforce alerts in Slack

There are three types of Salesforce alerts you can set up in your workspace:

• My Alerts send you a message when records assigned to you change.
• Channel Alerts send messages to a channel when a single record or object you’ve selected changes.
• Bulk Alerts send messages to a channel when a certain record type you’ve selected changes.

Note: Salesforce alerts in both public and private channels will appear as messages from you, since the Salesforce app may not have access to all channels in your workspace. 

Manage My Alerts

By default, you’ll receive a message from the Salesforce app when a record is assigned to you in Salesforce. To manage other alerts for standard and custom object record changes in Slack, follow the steps below:

1. From your desktop, click  Apps at the top of your left sidebar. If you don’t see this option, click  More to find it.
2. Search for and select Salesforce.
3. From the app’s Home tab, click Set Up My Alerts.
4. Check the box next to each alert you’d like to receive.
5. Click Save.

Set up channel alerts

To post Salesforce record changes to a channel in Slack, you can set up a channel alert:

1. Click the  plus icon next to the message field.
2. Search for and select Add/edit alerts for a channel from the menu.
3. Choose a channel from the drop-down menu.
4. Click Add a record.
5. Below Search records, select a record from the drop-down menu.
6. Click View record.
7. Click Add to [channel name].
8. Check the box next to each alert you’d like to post to the channel.
9. Click Save.

Tip: To set up a channel alert from Salesforce, click the Slack Alerts button from any record and select a channel.

Set up bulk alerts

Create a bulk alert to post updates about all records of a particular type to a channel.

1. From your desktop, click  Apps at the top of your left sidebar. If you don’t see this option, click  More to find it.
2. Search for and select Salesforce.
3. From the app’s Home tab, click Add Bulk Alert.
4. Select a channel from the drop-down menu, then click Next.
5. Choose a record type, then click Next.
6. Click Add to [channel name].
7. Uncheck the box next to any changes you don’t want to post to the channel as part of your bulk alert.
8. Click Save.

Troubleshoot alerts

If Salesforce alerts you’ve set up stop working, you can disconnect and reconnect your Salesforce account from Slack. Once you’ve reconnected, ask your Salesforce System Administrator to reauthorize your connection to Slack in Salesforce. You can then reconfigure your channel alerts.

Note: Deactivating a member of your workspace will cause any alerts they’ve set to stop working. You’ll need to disconnect and reconnect your Salesforce account in order to restore the missing alerts.

Send messages to Salesforce or Slack

Whether you’re working in Slack or Salesforce, it’s easy to send relevant information between services. 

Send Slack messages to Salesforce

Use the Add to Salesforce message shortcut to attach a Slack message to the Related Slack Messages component of any record in Salesforce.

1. Find the Slack message you’d like to send to Salesforce.
2. Click the   three dots icon, then click Add to Salesforce.
3. Search for a record, then select it from the drop-down menu.
4. Click Add.

Send Salesforce records to Slack

Use the Send to Slack action to send records from Salesforce to Slack.

1. Find the record you'd like to send to Slack.
2. At the top of the page, click the Send to Slack button.
3. Select a workspace, then pick the channel or person you’d like to send the record to.
4. Click Send to Slack.

Disconnect your account

If you no longer want to use the Salesforce app in Slack, you can disconnect your account. This will not uninstall the app from your workspace.

1. From your desktop, click  Apps in the left sidebar. If you don't see this option, click  More to find it. 
2. Search for and select Salesforce.
3. From the app's Home tab, click Disconnect Account. 
4. Click Disconnect to confirm.