Slack Communication Tool

What is Slack?

 Your team’s Slack will be divided up into smaller ‘channels’ for group discussion,
made up of teams, interests or whatever you desire.

 Slack acts as a hub, one organized space where all your colleagues can
communicate via instant messaging and live chat.

 This frees up your traditional inter-office email and keeps a clear record of what has
been discussed, accomplished and what needs attention in real time.

 It’s chat room for your whole company.

 Slack is not just a chat platform but a digital space comprised of different channels to

 Help you communicate with co-workers/teammates

 Share ideas
 Manage the development of projects
 Share code and comment in real time to keep everything moving swiftly.

“Searchable Log of All Conversation & Knowledge.”

S earchable
L og of
A ll
C ommunications and
K knowledge

Built as an intra-office messaging system, and one of the fastest-growing workplace

software apps ever, just under three years into its launch back in 2013, Slack had
already surpassed a whopping 2 million daily users.
With the proliferation of mobile devices, Slack makes it easy to upload files from
anywhere including traditional desktop computers and access and edit spreadsheets
and all the other usual suspects.

“Why is this any different from good old e-mail?”

If your inbox is your comfort zone and you’re wondering how Slack differs, before
resisting adopting this new technology any longer here’s a few reasons:

 Like e-mail, Slack allows you to organize and archive messages.

 Unlike average old e-mail, Slack makes it easy to view and search information
from other applications.

 Anything your business uses like a corporate accounting system or Dropbox – all
these areas can be pulled together in one place.

Slack is a free service.

Sure, there are some features that require a paid upgrade but the free version is more
than enough to get your remote team started and running smoother than ever before.

Voted one of last year’s Top 50 Smartest Companies, implementing this easy to use
software into your remote team workflow is a smart move for any company. Whatever
the scope.
Step 1: Get the App

Slack can be run in browser mode if you aren’t ready to commit, but downloading the
latest version of Slack quickly and easily allows you to get the most out of your
experience. The free version is all you need to get started.

Be sure to download the main desktop app onto your office computer, and add mobile
apps on your other devices to make it easy to connect with everyone anywhere on
iPhone, Android and Windows Phones.

Step 2: Team Creation

 After easy sign-up, it’s time to hit the team creation page.

 This is where you simply enter your email address

 Follow a few easy steps from there through a confirmation email that will arrive
in your inbox with a code to enter.

 Step by step directions will lead you to pages where you can choose a
username, password, and team name. Look at you go!

Step 3: Invite Your Dream Team Onboard

 Now it’s time to invite team members to your newly minted team page. Do this
from the Invitations page.

 Click your team name within Slack to open your Team Menu.

 From there, select the option for Invite people. Invite members by entering their
email address, first and last name.

 If you’d like to invite more than one person at a time, simply click Add another or
invite team members in bulk by selecting Invite many people at once.
Step 4: Channeling Your Creative Energy

Once you’ve taken the first 3 admin creation steps then

You’re ready to focus on creating Channels.

How To Use Slack Channels

 Channels are the different “rooms” – where you can meet with coworkers to
discuss projects.

 Slack channels are where the majority of your team’s conversations and daily
work take place.

 You can create as many channels as you need and can name them whatever you
want.

 You can set a purpose for the channel that explains to anyone being invited what the
channel is for.

 For example, if you are in IT and working on networking different facilities, it would
make sense to have channels look that look like the ones in the above screenshot.
 When you first create a Slack team, your communication space will automatically
come with two channels that will include everyone in the team:

1. #general
2. #random.

As their names suggest, one is for general information and communication

The other is mostly for memes and gifs (not officially, but in practice, it is).

Create a channel

They can be organized around anything and you can create as many as you need. In
Slack, there are three kinds of channels:

1. Public Channels

 They’re used for conversations open to all members.

 Anything posted to a public channel is browsable and searchable by all

members, except for Guests of your Slack workspace.

2. Private Channels

 They’re for confidential discussions.

 You have to be invited to a private channel in order to see and search for its
contents.

 A private channel has a lock icon next to its name.

3. Shared Channels (beta)

 They're a bridge connecting a channel in your workspace with another

company’s Slack workspace.

 It’s a secure place to communicate and collaborate with external contacts.

 A shared channel has a double diamond icon next to its name.

This is the bread and butter of Slack, and possibly the first AHA! moment you’ll have of
why exactly this differs from your average email correspondence between remote co-
workers.

Who can create a channel?

 By default, all members except for Guests can create a new channel.

 However, Workspace Owners can choose to limit the creation of public

channels, private channels, or both.

In your desktop sidebar click the + icon beside Channels to access the channel
creation window.

Here you can choose whether your channel will be public or private.
 The majority of conversations you’ll find on Slack are each organized into public
channels – places where anyone invited on your team can join and view
correspondence around a specific thread/idea/task you name it.

 Private messages are also an option to limit and focus messaging but Slack
essentially is all about a collaborative and transparent business communications
model.

 For both public and private channel creation, the next step is deciding a unique
channel name.

 Something that describes the topic of conversation for this area up to 21 characters
in length.

 Your new channel name can include numbers, lowercase letters, and hyphens.

 Slack mandates that no two channels or usernames be identical.

 Some names are reserved by Slack and can never be used including variations on
Delete, Me, Slackbot, Day, Channel, Edit, and Archived.
What’s in a Name?

Don’t overthink it, landing on the best name for your channel is a quick process and
ultimately won’t define the quality work that goes on within it.

Once you’ve named your new channel you can select who you want to join.

Invite team members by browsing the invite box list or type any name. You can always
add more members at a later time as your organization and roles expand.

Pick Your Purpose

 There is an option to assign a channel purpose to better assist your team in

assessing what channels to join.

 Choose the “add a channel purpose” option to specify.

 That’s it! Click the Create channel button to finish.

 The channel you are currently in will show as highlighted on the left-hand list.

 To navigate from one channel to another just click the name of the one you’d like
to enter.

 When a channel name is appearing in bold font that means there is new activity
within it.

 Pro Shortcut: Quickly create a new channel from your message box by entering
a slash command of /join [new channel name]
Send & Receive Messages

 Easily sending and viewing messages in Slack is what the service is all about.

 To send a message from the desktop version, simply type your text at the bottom
of the screen in the form and hit Enter.

 Your new message will appear for everyone to view within the channel.

 If you begin typing a message and leave before sending, it will be saved as a
draft and the little pencil icon will appear next to the channel or direct message
you were writing in to remind you.

How to update sent message if it is wrong?

 Ahh, you just hit send and are reading back your brilliant message when you
notice a typo and another one…

 To edit your most recent message on the channel you’re currently in

 Simply use the up arrow key and Slack lets you make changes.

For editing older messages in the desktop version, hover your cursor over the offending
text and click the tiny cog icon menu that appears. For mobile users tap and hold on
the message for a magic menu to undo your typos.
Suppose if you want to share any messages you can do it
Upload Important Files
  You can easily upload photos, PDF files, or important documents by clicking
on the + icon found on the left side of your message box.

 What size of data can be uploaded  up to 1GB in size to Slack

 You can also share and upload files by dragging and dropping items right into
the channel. Use the keyboard commands Ctrl/Cmd + C/V to quickly copy and
paste.

 When you are uploading a file, Slack will ask you where you’d like to share it.

 You can customize titles, comment and even keep uploads private by
unchecking the Share in option. To skip this step, hold down the Shift key
while dropping a file to upload instantly.

 If you’re downloading a file from Slack you can choose a default location where
you’d like files to save to under the Advanced section of your Preferences found
in the Team Menu.

Sharing of presentation to any particular Channel

Remember 
The free version of Slack provides 5 GB of storage for every team to upload files.

Paid versions offer as much as 1TB per member if need be.

Slack alerts you once a storage limit has been reached and offers upgrade options, or
you can clean house and delete older files you no longer need within Slack.

Good to Know: For any video or audio files, it isn’t necessary to

download .mp3, .mp4, .mov or .wav files on the desktop app. Slack plays them directly
allowing you to save some valuable space.

How To Use Slack DMs and Group DMs

 If you want to chat with just one person, to discuss a specific subject unrelated to
the rest of your team, you can send them a direct message.

 On the “+” sign by Direct Message on the middle column, you can search for
someone’s name and click start.

 This will open a window within the last column with just them.

 You can create DM groups, too, where you can add up to 8 people without
having to set a purpose.

Set a reminder using Slackbot

  When you create Slack account, you’ll be partnered with a helpful assistant
named @slackbot.

 Use Slackbot

 Forget creating a to-do list in your iPhone, copy-and-pasting in Evernote, or

creating a calendar event to remind yourself.

 Instead, go to Direct Messages and select Slackbot (usually the first option), and
type the following:

/remind [me / @someone / #channel] [what] [when]

Hit Enter, and your trusty sidekick Slackbot will handle the rest.

Here are some reminders I use:

 /remind me to drink water every weekday at 3pm

 /remind @brandon to update me on the latest video tomorrow

 /remind #general it’s Ash’s birthday today

Use Slackbot for reminder setting

Command for Reminder ( /remind

Set reminder for 2:15 pm

Reminder from Slackbot

You can snooze reminder for particular time

If you click on Mark as Complete Slackbot will tick mark that reminder
Star important messages

 One of the features in Slack is the Star beside each message.

 Clicking the Star allows you to bookmark any important message — and keep all
these important messages in one place.

 These starred messages will save in “Starred Items” in the top right corner of your
Slack window.

 You can keep everything easily accessible from your Starred Items menu:

 Messages from other people you need to remember

 Important links or resources you constantly need
 Passwords or other information you reuse again and again

Open any particular Channel

Click on Star * at Right upper corner as mentioned below

It will show all Starred items / starred messages from SMC Channel

Jump to any selected starred message so you will get other related info
Many of your daily tasks can be made easier with Slack. We’ll cover some common
work-related tasks and maybe introduce a little magic along the way. Here's what you'll
learn how to do in this guide:
  Organize a to-do list
 Host meetings
 Connect and share
 Reduce distractions

Organize a to-do list

Click on Star * at Right upper corner as mentioned below

It will show all Starred items / starred messages as TO DO list

Create a #to-do channel
Creating a dedicated #to-do list channel is a great way to track and assign group
tasks in one convenient place.

Be sure to invite anyone to the channel who needs to add items, make requests or work
on the list.

Too noisy? You can always create more to-do channels for individual teams or projects
if you need to.
Use pinned message options (Go to Channel details and click pinned items)
When you click on Pinned items it will show pinned items from channel

Record and save meeting notes.

Posts work great for recording meeting notes:

Prepare MOM points

Share MOM with smc channel (it will to share with which channel or user)

Others can add to your notes, and because they’re saved in Slack, they can be
easily referenced at a later date.
Suppose if you don’t want anyone to edit MOM you can do that while sharing the Post

Keep your organization aligned

 Create a channel named #announcements channel to communicate updates

 The whole organization should see: company goals, new policies, etc.

 Make it clear that this channel is for announcements only –

 Pin important announcements to the channel so they’re easily accessible.

Connect with employees

 Create a channel like #ama, #ceo, or #leadership, where the executive team
periodically answers questions from around the company.

 This helps employees get to know executives better and understand what’s
important to them.
Slack for project management

Slack helps project managers run projects efficiently without compromising quality.

Learn how you can use Slack to keep your entire project team (and stakeholders) in the
loop at all times — without overloading them with unnecessary emails and meetings.
Why manage projects in Slack?

 Group the right people and information together with project-specific channels.

 Connect your project management tools and spend less time switching between
multiple interfaces.

 Make it easy to for the whole workspace to keep up with project updates and
next steps by sharing this information in project channels.

 Share project resources, files, and deliverables with your workspace and get
feedback in the moment.

Group the right people & information

Create a public channel for each project. Use consistent channel naming guidelines
(e.g. #project-finance, #project-government, etc.) to keep your channels organized.

Streamline communication channels

  Consolidate your communication channels with outside stakeholders (like board
members and advisors) by adding them to your company’s workspace as Multi-
Channel or Single-Channel Guests.

 This makes it easy to bring new internal stakeholders into discussions as needed
– they’ll have a record of past conversations to quickly get caught up.

 Create a private channel for discussing topics with internal stakeholders that are
confidential like budgeting, hiring, fundraising, and more.

 Once a decision is made, we recommend sharing an update in a public channel

so the whole workspace can stay informed.

Some members of your Slack workspace — like contractors, interns, or clients — may
only need access to certain channels. These members can be invited as a Multi-
Channel or Single-Channel Guest.

Guests can join channels by invitation only, so access to other channels and information
is limited.

Billing for Guest accounts

Guest accounts are available only for paid workspaces and can be either Multi-
Channel or Single-Channel.

Multi-Channel Guests have access to only the channels you specify.

They're billed as regular members and can be added to an unlimited number of

channels.

Single-Channel Guests are free and have access to just one channel.

You can add up to five per paid member of your workspace.

For example, let's say your workspace has 10 members — that means you can
invite up to 50 Single-Channel Guests!
Add a Guest to your workspace
Invite a new Guest

Multi-Channel or Single-Channel Guests can be invited to your workspace just like

regular members via the Invitations page.

For step-by-step instructions, see Invite new members to your Slack workspace.

Send a new invitation

By default, only Workspace Owners and Admins can send invitations to new
members, but they can change who can send invitations to allow everyone (except
guests).

Inviting members

1. Click your workspace name in the top left to open the menu.

2. Select Invite people. On paid plans, you can also invite guests (read how to do it
below).

3. Enter the email address and full name of the person you'd like to invite.
Click Add another or add many at once, if you'd like.

4. Under Default Channels, click Edit / add to select channels these invitees will
automatically join. On paid plans, you have the option to compose a custom
message to make your invites more personal.

5. Click Send Invitations to finish.

Inviting guests

On the Standard plan and above, only Workspace Owners and Admins can invite
Multi-Channel or Single-Channel Guests:

Multi-Channel Guest
  Follow steps 1 through 3 under Inviting members.

 When asked, choose any no of channels that you want the guest to have access
to.

 Set a time limit for how long the guest will have access to your workspace.

 When you're ready, click Invite Guests.

Single-Channel Guest

 Follow steps 1 through 3 under Inviting members.

 When asked, choose one channel that you want the guest to have access to.

 Set a time limit for how long the guest will have access to your workspace.

 When you're ready, click Invite Guests.

Change a member’s role to Guest

If you need to switch a member to a guest, you can manage roles from the Members
page.

Learn how to change a member’s role.

Change a member's role

Workspace Owners and Admins can manage the roles and permissions of other members on their
team.

Change a member's role to Guest

Keep in mind:

Guest accounts are available to paid workspaces.

Any member's role can be changed to a Multi-Channel or Single-Channel Guest:

1. Click your workspace name in the top left to open the menu.

2. Select Manage members.

3. Click the arrow next to the team member you'd like to change to a Guest.

4. Click Convert to Guest.

5. On the next screen, click either a Multi-Channel Guest or a Single-Channel

Guest.

6. For Single-Channel Guests, select the channel they should belong to, then click
Confirm.

7. For Multi-Channel Guests, click Confirm. You'll then be able to edit the channels
they can access.

Note: If the account is currently an Owner or Admin, you must first click Remove
Privileges before you'll see an option to convert their account to a Guest.

Change a Guest's role

1. Click your workspace name in the top left to open the menu.

2. Select Manage members.

3. Click the Guest Accounts tab.

4. Select the team member you'd like to change.

From here you can:

  Change the Guest to a full member by clicking the Make full member button

 Change a Single-Channel Guest to a Multi-Channel Guest by clicking the

Convert to Multi-Channel Guest link

 Change a Multi-Channel Guest to a Single-Channel Guest by clicking the

Convert to a Single-Channel Guest link

Note: You can't directly promote a Guest to Admin or Owner. You'll need to make them
a full member first.

Set a deactivation time for Guest accounts

For all Guest accounts, you can determine how long they’ll have access to your
workspace: choose to automatically deactivate a Guest account after a certain amount
of time, set a custom deactivation date and time, or allow an account to have access
indefinitely.
For example, Shannon is on a 6-month contract with Acme Corp. Her contract ends in
mid-May, so her Single-Channel Guest account has a custom deactivation date of May
15.
Note: Multi-Channel Guest accounts with a time limit are still billed like regular members. If
they're only active during a portion of your workspace's billing cycle, we'll deposit prorated
credits to your Slack account.