Share sidebar sections in Slack

On Slack's paid plans, you can organize the conversations in your sidebar into custom sections. To help your team find and organize channels important to their work, you can create and share a custom sidebar section with all the members of a user group.

What to expect

• To create and share a custom sidebar section, you'll need permission to create and edit user groups.
• To add channels to a shared custom sidebar section, add them as default channels for the user group.
• Members of the user group can display, sort, and mute channels in shared sections the same way as any custom section. If they'd like, members can also remove the custom section from their sidebar. 

Create and share custom sidebar sections

For a new user group

Business+ plan

Enterprise Grid plan

1. From your desktop, click   More, then select  People.
   
2. Select   User groups from the sidebar, then click Create user group in the top-right corner.
3. Choose a name and handle for your user group.
4. Select default channels for group members to be added to. 
5. Under Add group channels as a section in Home, click the toggle, then click Next.
6. Under Add members, search for and select the members you’d like to add.
7. When you’re done, click Create Group.

1. From your desktop, click   More, then select  People.
   
2. Select   User groups from the sidebar, then click Create user group in the top-right corner.
3. Select a workspace for the user group, then choose a name and handle. 
4. Select default channels for group members to be added to. 
5. Under Add group channels as a section in Home, click the toggle, then click Next.
6. Under Add members, search for and select the members you’d like to add.
7. When you’re done, click Create Group.

For an existing user group

1. From your desktop, click   More, then select People.
   
2. Select the User groups in the sidebar. 
3. Click on the user group you'd like to manage, then click the  three dots icon. 
4. Select Edit group details from the menu.
5. Add or review the default channels, then click the toggle under Add group channels as a section in Home.
6. Click Save. 

Note: If anyone in a user group organized a default channel into their own custom section before the shared custom section was created, the channel won't be moved to the new shared custom section.

FAQs

Can I create more than one channel section per user group?

Right now, you can only add one custom sidebar section per user group. We're working to expand this functionality in the future, so stay tuned! 

Can I add an emoji to the shared section? 

No. Shared custom sidebar sections are indicated by a   default icon that can't be changed. 

Can I create or update shared custom sidebar sections programmatically?

You can use our new enable_section boolean argument with the usergroups.update or usergroups.create API methods. It isn't possible to assign sidebar sections to IDP groups with the SCIM API. 

Who can use this feature?

• People with permission to manage user groups
• Available on Business+ and Enterprise Grid plans