Set up Slack to go on vacation

The only thing better than being productive and efficient at work is rewarding yourself with a break! When it’s time to get away and recharge, you can set up Slack so that you can take a vacation.

Set up Slack for time away 

• Set a custom status while you're away.
• Manage your notifications so your vacation goes undisturbed.
• Keep yourself and others organized with reminders.
• Check Mentions & reactions when you get back.

Set your status

Let everyone know you're taking time off and when you'll be back by setting a custom status. Update the emoji to give more detail on your plans and set expectations for your response time. You can add an airplane for when you're in flight, and switch to a palm tree when you've reached the beach. 🏝

Another way to let your team know you won't be responding right away is to set your availability to away. You'll be listed as inactive in Slack — even if you open the app for a quick peek. (But no peeking — go relax!)

Manage your notifications

Here’s the beauty of going on vacation when your team uses Slack: crucial conversations are logged in channels — not hidden away in email inboxes. Remember to upload and share resources with your workspace so that they’ll have access to them while you’re away. 

As work carries on without you, it's helpful to set up Do Not Disturb hours so you won't receive notifications of channel activity while you're away. The  snooze icon next to your name will let coworkers know you've silenced your notifications.

Use reminders to stay on track

Before you leave, set reminders for tasks and projects you’ll need to do when you return. You can even ask Slack to remind you later about a particular message or conversation to follow up on. 

If there are channels that rely on your input or approval to get work done, consider scheduling a daily reminder for the channel that you'll be away. 

Tip: Ask other members of your workspace to set reminders for you if anything comes up while you're gone.

Hold on to great ideas

Finally figure out how to wrap up that report? Or did you see something in your travels that sparked a project idea? Though we recommend unplugging completely, you can always send notes to yourself to keep track of any work-related thoughts that occur to you while you're out and about. 

Tip: Once you're back and settled, upload photos from your trip to your workspace's #vacation-photos social channel! 📸