Work with templates in channels

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

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 like 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 the   plus button in the sidebar.
2. Select   Channel.
3. Below Try a template, choose the template you’d like to use, then click Next.
4. Slack will automatically suggest a channel prefix, which you can change if you’d like. 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 customize 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 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 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 customize them.

Customize your template

Now that you’ve chosen a template for your channel, you can customize 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 finalize their configuration, or further customize them.

Canvas

Lists

Workflows

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

1. Click the   Canvas tab in the channel header.
2. To change the image at the top of the canvas, hover over it and click the   three dots icon. Click Cover image, then select Replace.
3. Edit the content to personalize it for your team, or remove information 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 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   Open. Click 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 you’d like to change. For example, you might want to further customize a message it sends to your channel.

Edit a workflow

1. Click the   Workflows tab in the channel header.
   To customize a workflow, click the   three dots icon and select Edit workflow.
   Click the   pencil icon next to a step to make changes.
   Click Save, then click 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   Send a message to send a regular message. If you don’t want to feature a workflow, follow the steps below:

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

Use your template

When you’re done customizing your template, it’s ready to use. Be sure to add people to the channel and let them know where to find the resources you 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 plans