By Tim Marconi. Welcome back to the UC Tech Slack series. The previous three posts were:
- Learn All about the UC Tech Slack Workspace,
- Slack – New Features and Frontiers and
- Ready for Slack Apps?
Today I will discuss some Slack tips and tricks to help you be more productive when using Slack.
Managing channels
Do you like joining channels? And now maybe you are overwhelmed? Does their mere presence stress you out? Stress no more, as a very quick change in your preferences can hide all those pesky channels.
Slash commands
Slash commands are the way to get things done quickly in Slack. /zoom will start a Zoom meeting and /shrug will enter ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ for you in a message. Lots of great options! Find out more:
Reminders
Are you using the /remind function in Slack? You should! Example, I should have written “/remind me” to write this article 5 days ago.
Mark favorites
Starring channels and messages is a great way to stay organized in Slack. You can create a to-do list with stars or make sure that your favorite channels are right at the top with a simple star.
Search
Sometimes you just need to search, but the search in Slack is a little weird. Luckily, Slack search can be made better with some scoping.
Keyboard shortcuts
Navigating with the keyboard can be a much faster and more convenient way to use Slack. Take a look at all the keyboard shortcuts they have available.
Formatting text
What about formatting your response? Know how to add a code block or strikethrough a message? You do now.
Keep learning
Maybe you are already an expert and knew all of this, but you are asked a lot of questions from your colleagues. Send them off to get Slack Certified, it takes less than 30 minutes and is really well done.
There is always plenty more to learn about Slack and I will be back to update you all as more features are released, but for now this will be the end of our monthly Slack series. Why did I end it with a bunch of links to Slack help articles? Because Slack will maintain those pages with updated screenshots and videos as the features evolve in the future – no need for us to reinvent the wheel.
UC Tech Slack has grown tremendously in the last year and a half with over 3,500 UC tech professionals (and growing) collaborating and keeping the community informed. Spread the word. Get your colleagues on UC Tech and start some great conversations to make the University of California even better.
Tim Marconi is IT operations manager for the library at UC San Diego. He can be found in all kinds of channels on the UC Tech workspace.