Best Slack Tips for Beginners - Tips & Tricks for Slack

Best Slack Tips for Beginners Checklist

Ensure you've got these right:

Install the desktop and mobile apps. Complete your profile with timezone.
Create a public project channel and run the 72 hour challenge.
Use threads for follow ups. Configure notifications for direct messages, mentions, and keywords.
Set DND for deep work and after hours. Save messages to Later and add reminders with /remind.
Learn the Quick Switcher with Cmd K or Ctrl K. Star key channels and build custom sections if available.
Use reactions to acknowledge and approve without extra messages.

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Learn practical tips that turn Slack into a focused, searchable, team brain. Start with setup, master communication, and protect your attention.

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Your First 72 Hours in Slack

Lay foundations that stick. Set up your profile, install the apps, and run a short experiment that proves Slack beats email for projects.

Join or Create Your Workspace

Use your company email to access the right workspace. Read our primer on what Slack is to understand the basics.

Complete Your Profile

Add a clear photo, role, team, and timezone. This helps teammates respect your hours and find the right person fast.

Install Desktop and Mobile Apps

Native apps give better notifications and performance. See our guide to using Slack on mobile.

Run the 72 Hour Channel Challenge

Create a public project channel like #proj-q3-report. Move all updates, files, and decisions there for three days. New members can scroll up and get the full story without email.

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Result: One transparent hub beats scattered email threads. Everything stays searchable for future teammates.

Understand Workspaces, Channels, DMs, and Threads

Put every conversation in the right place to keep Slack tidy and scannable.

Public Channels

Default for project and team work. Builds a searchable knowledge base. Add a clear topic and description.

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Private Channels

Use for sensitive topics only. Avoid overuse or you recreate silos.

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DMs

Quick, one off chat. Do not run projects in DMs. Prefer a private channel over multi person DMs.

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Threads

Reply in a thread to keep the main channel clean. Share the final decision back to channel when needed.

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Use prefixes for order. Examples: #team-marketing, #proj-website-redesign, #announcements-global, #fun-pets.

Write Messages That Drive Action

Use precise mentions, smart formatting, and emoji reactions to reduce noise.

Tool

Best Use

Example

@username

Notify one person for a decision or task

@sarah can you review by 4 pm

@here

Ping currently active members only

@here who can jump on a quick test

@channel

Urgent alert for all members

Deploy paused. Hold pushes until update

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Avoid notification fatigue: Use the smallest mention that gets the job done. Combine thoughts in one message. Use Shift + Enter for line breaks.

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Reactions replace chatter: Use ✅ for approval, 👀 for seen, ➕ for agree, 🎉 for celebrate. Create a shared team legend in a channel Canvas.

Tame Notifications and Protect Focus

Slack should serve your schedule. Configure alerts, DND, and your sidebar.

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Set Smart Alerts

Preferences → Notifications → choose Direct messages, mentions and keywords. Add project names as keywords.

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Use Do Not Disturb

Pause notifications for deep work or schedule evenings and weekends by default.

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Prune Channels

Mute low priority feeds. Leave channels you no longer need. Archive finished projects to keep history searchable.

Turn Slack Into a Personal Command Center

Use Later, reminders, search, and sections to track work without losing context.

Feature

What It Solves

How To

Later

Save any message as a to do

Save → add reminder → mark complete

/remind

Never miss follow ups

/remind me send report Friday 4 pm

Find decisions and files fast

"Q3 budget" in:#proj-finance from:@jane after:2025-01-01

Starred + Sections

Prioritize key channels and DMs

Create sections like P1, Team, Projects

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Build a lightweight help hub with a channel Canvas. For support flows inside Slack, explore tools in our customer support tools comparison and knowledge base guide.

Keyboard Shortcuts and Slash Commands

Move faster with a few high impact shortcuts and commands.

Action

Mac

Windows/Linux

Quick Switcher

⌘ + K

Ctrl + K

Open Threads

⌘ + Shift + T

Ctrl + Shift + T

Mark All Read

Shift + Esc

Show Shortcuts

⌘ + /

Ctrl + /

Slash Command

What It Does

Example

/dnd

Pause notifications

/dnd for 1 hour

/status

Set a custom status

/status In a meeting

/remind

Schedule reminders

/remind #team standup every weekday 9 30 am

/mute

Mute current channel

/mute

/leave

Leave current channel

/leave

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Common Slack Beginner Mistakes

There' a lot that can go wrong, but ensure you're not sinking into one of these rabbit holes:

Starting projects in DMs instead of channels.
Posting follow ups in channel instead of threads.
Overusing @channel and @everyone.
Leaving messages unread as a to do list instead of using Later and reminders.
Staying in too many channels instead of muting, leaving, or archiving.
Pasting raw links instead of writing clear text and adding a clean hyperlink.
Ignoring search operators and then reinventing work that already exists.

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Huddles and Canvas for Advanced Collaboration

Use the right surface for the job. Talk live when text is slow. Capture knowledge where people can find it.

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Huddles

Start an instant audio chat from any channel or DM. Use screen share and let the thread capture links and action items.

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Canvas

Create a persistent doc for project briefs, FAQs, and checklists. Embed workflow buttons from Workflow Builder for quick actions.

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Pair these with tools from our guides on online collaboration and cloud collaboration.

Capture Requests Inside Slack

Turn messages into trackable tickets with Suptask. Assign owners and resolve faster without context switching.

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