Introducing the new Activity view in Slack

In January 2026, we began rolling out an updated version of Activity — a single, consistent place to stay informed, manage your messages, and take action on everything in Slack.

Whether you’re simply trying to sort and find the important stuff or you’re an inbox zero enthusiast, read on to find out what’s changing and how to use Activity as your one-stop shop for staying up to date.

Note: The new version of Activity is rolling out gradually. We appreciate your patience as we make it available to all customers.

What's changed

• More of your notifications in one place
  You’ll now find direct messages (DMs), messages from channels set to All new posts, and personal reminders in Activity alongside what’s already there today. 
• View activity your way
  Choose between   Detailed layout with full previews of messages or   Dense layout to quickly scan a larger number of notifications. 
• Filter the way you see fit
  Create custom views for notifications from multiple sources to reflect the work you care most about. Plus, we’ve added new filters for reminders, specific channels, and sidebar sections. 
• Clear notifications
  Clear individual notifications to remove them from your Activity feed, or select multiple items at once to clear them or mark them all as read.
• Navigate with your keyboard
  Use our new keyboard shortcuts to navigate Activity and take action on messages.

Switch between layouts

1. From your desktop, click   Activity in your sidebar. 
2. Above the first entry in your feed, click   View as dense to switch to Dense layout. To go back to Detailed, click   View as detailed. 

Use and customize filters

When you open Activity, you’ll see All notifications by default. If you’d like, you can filter to view only certain types of notifications and save views as tabs at the top of your feed. Here are the filters we have available now:  

• DMs
• Mentions
• Threads
• Channels
• Reactions
• Invitations
• Apps
• Reminders
• VIP (paid plans only)
• Cleared notifications
• Specific channels or sections (paid plans only)

Filter by notification type

Desktop

Mobile

1. Click   Activity in your sidebar. 
2. Select a tab at the top of your feed. To view more options, click   Filters. 
3. Check the box next to the filter you'd like to apply. To create a new view, click Save. 

1. Tap   Activity at the bottom of your screen. 
2. Select a tab at the top of your feed. 

Tip: Click the   plus icon at the top of Activity on desktop and select a suggested view to quickly add it as a filter.

Create a custom view

You know how you work best, and you can now create custom views for specific combinations of notifications (like certain channels and DMs) to group everything from members of your team or about a particular project. 

1. From your desktop, click   Activity in your sidebar. 
2. Click the   plus icon at the top of your feed. 
3. Click Create a custom view. 
4. Pick a name and select a layout. 
5. Choose if the view will only include unread messages and check the box next to any notification types you’d like, then click Save. 

Clear notifications

Clearing notifications hides them from Activity and automatically marks any unread notifications as read. But don’t worry — you can find anything you clear in the Cleared items view, and you’ll always see new replies in your feed even if you marked the original channel, DM, or thread notification as read. 

Desktop

Mobile

1. Click   Activity in your sidebar.
2. Hover over a message, then click   Clear notification. 
3. To clear in bulk, check the box next to multiple notifications and click   Clear selected notifications. 

1. Tap   Activity at the bottom of your screen. 
2. Swipe left on a message to clear it.

Navigate with your keyboard

So you can work more efficiently in Activity, we've added a few handy keyboard shortcuts: 

• ↑ or ↓to navigate your feed
• Enter to reply to a message
• E to clear a notification
• R to mark a notification as read

FAQs

Can I switch back to the old Activity?

No, but you can always work from the channel list in your sidebar or other tabs like   DMs and   Later rather than   Activity. 

My Activity feed doesn't look like what you've described here. What's going on?

The new version of Activity is rolling out slowly, so all customers won’t have it right away. If you want to learn more about the legacy version of Activity before you switch, head over to Triage notifications in the Activity tab (legacy).

How does filtering work?

Filters help you personalize exactly what you see in Activity. Click or tap   Unreads to start with only your unread messages, or select   Filters and check the box next to the notifications you'd like to see.  

Can I create a custom view?

Yes. You can choose a combination of filters to create a new custom view that will be saved as a tab at the top of your Activity feed with whatever name you choose (and yes, you can add emoji). 🎉

Where did my existing Activity filters go?

With this update, all filters have been hidden by default except for All notifications and DMs. However, you can easily restore Mentions, Threads, or Reactions, as well as many other useful filters from the desktop view. Click the   plus icon or the   Filters button to add your preferred filters.

What’s the difference between clearing a notification and marking it as read?

If you mark something as read from Activity, the channel or DM in your sidebar will unbold but it won’t be hidden from your feed. When you clear a notification, it will be hidden, but there’ll always be a record in the Cleared notifications filter for you to refer back to (similar to the Completed or Archived tabs in Later). Additionally, any unread notifications you clear will also be marked as read. 

Does Activity work on mobile?

Yes, these updates to Activity are available on both desktop and mobile. However, some features like creating and editing custom views and switching between Dense and Detailed layouts are only available on desktop.