Slack quick reference

Published on April 8th, 2023 • Updated on February 8th, 2024

• Slack setup
  • Use Slack for Desktop. To use Slack windowing features.
  • Use Grammarly Desktop so that it works with the Slack Desktop app. Needs to be downloaded from Grammarly's website.
  • Slack settings:
    • Advanced
      • When writing a message, press Enter to…
        • Start a new line (use Enter to send) (checked)
      • Download location
        • Choose location for each download (checked)
    • Mark as read
      • When I view a channel
        • Start me at the newest message, but leave unseen messages unread
    • Messages & media
      • Theme -> Compact
      • Names -> Just display names
    • Additional options
      • Display information about who is currently typing a message (checked)
      • Show times with 24-hour clock (checked)
      • Display color swatches next to hexadecimal values (checked)
    • Emoji
      • Convert my typed emoticons to emoji
      • Show one-click reactions on messages
        • My most frequently used emoji
    • Themes
      • Sync with OS setting (checked)
• Tips for writing communication
• - - negates during search, e.g., <search> -in:#<channel-name>.
  • The above example is equivalent to searching for <search> not in the channel <channel-name>.
• has:link - search messages that have a link
• in:@<alias> search DM's by person <alias>
• /color <user-alias> <html-color-code> - set the <user-alias> color to the color <html-color-code>, e.g., /color @carloespino #639FB6.
• command + shift + A - Open the "Unreads" view.
• command + shift + D - Expand/collapse sidebar.