What Is Slack? And Why It's the Go-To Tool for Teams

What is Slack? It's a cloud-based communication hub built for productivity with instant messaging, voice and video calls, and numerous app integrations.

Here's everything to know about this all-in-one collaboration platform.

Slack Workspaces and Channels

A Slack workspace is a team's home base for collaboration. It's a dashboard that includes all the productivity tools and channels for communication.

Slacks allows free workspaces, which are appropriate for small to medium companies or teams. Once you create a workspace, you can invite other members to join it.

Each workspace user becomes a part of the global directory. All workspace members can communicate directly with one another through direct messages or via one of the channels.

Channels are like chat rooms often focused by topic, team, or project.

Workspace members can communicate with the entire team or certain team members in various channels.

A channel creator can give channel access to anyone in the shared workspace or restrict access to invited users.

For example, team members working on a dedicated project can have their own channel, while the entire team can access a channel about common issues.

Use Slack Messaging and Calls

If you're creating a new Slack workspace, invite users to become part of it. If you're joining a workspace, you'll need to receive an invitation first.

Once you're a member, messaging in Slack is easy and intuitive. You'll see a list of channels and direct message contacts from the side menu on the left side of the app.

Select a channel or a direct message between you and another member to see the messaging history in the center window.

From the side menu, start direct message threads with other members, add a message to a channel, search for more channels to join, or create a new channel and invite members.

Desktop Slack versions allow voice and video calls called huddles. The free Slack version supports conversations with only two members, while the paid versions allow up to 50 participants. The paid versions also support screen sharing.

Slack's Advanced Features

Slack is more than a simple chat client. Its array of collaboration and teamwork tools set Slack apart as a powerful communication tool.

Here's a glance at some of Slack's advanced features.

Notification Settings

You have a lot of power over your Slack notification settings so you can be part of many busy channels within Slack without being distracted by constant notifications. Here are a couple of main options:

• Channel or specific mentions: Limit notifications to show only when you're mentioned in the channel, or only when specific words are used that may relate to the work you do.
• By schedule: Control notifications on an automatic schedule, as well. For example, you may want to disable notifications outside your regular work schedule.

Team Tools

There are a lot of team-building tools built into the platform for sharing information or building morale.

• @mentions: Teams can use specific words to draw a team member's attention to a certain issue. Type @user's name into a chat message to alert someone to an important conversation they should see.
• Share files: You can also easily share files, pictures, and more between team members with easy uploads directly within direct messages and team channels.
• Search message history: Slack keeps track of the content shared in channels and direct messages, making it easy to find and reference this information. Use the search bar to find specific chat messages or shared data.
• Add some levity: GIFs and emojis are baked into Slack and are a natural part of daily communication. If your workspace allows it, you can choose GIFs from the emoji icon. Slack also supports direct integration with Giphy, or you can create your own custom Slack emojis.

Communication Tools

Want to have a quick audio conversation without turning on your camera? You can start a Slack huddle in any channel or direct message. You can also share your screen with other participants in a huddle.

Paid Slack teams can also share video and voice recordings. Slack automatically includes a transcript with all recordings, which can be stored in a searchable ​archive. You can schedule recordings to appear at a specific time.

Slack Business+ and Enterprise Grid plans support Slack Atlas, which adds extensive user profiles that can help newcomers understand your organization's structure.

Slack Atlas integrates with tools like Workday to help teams keep all information updated.

Slack App Integration

For more advanced Slack functionality, workspace administrators can integrate other apps, including Google Drive and Dropbox, to streamline file sharing.

Use a variety of bots to handle other tasks, such as pulling in data from external tools or creating quick surveys. Slack also offers various automations to streamline daily or regular tasks.

While these app integrations aren't a core part of Slack, they make the platform more versatile than other apps dedicated solely to communication.