What is Slack and how to use it?

Intro: Today, we are going to talk about slack which is a hub for collaboration and that can reinstate emails to support you and so the work of your team seamlessly. Slack is designed to help the way every individual naturally works together so that you can collaborate with those individuals online as efficiently as they do face-to-face. Let’s sum-up in brief in the below section.  

Moreover, a slack's work-space is the abode to an entire team. The users in a work-space will populate the directory, and they all have the means to directly communicate with one another all via direct instant messaging.  

How to use slack for your business?

If we talk about using slack for your business then there are a myriad of great ways you can use Slack in your business. And the most basic is as an instant messenger, for both one-on-one communication and group discussion. This all permits teams to discuss a project in real-time, sharing the files, and in the other paid versions, invite outside the projects in real-time, share files, and in the paid versions, invite the outside guests to participate in specific chats.

New channels can be created at any time, for any purpose, and users can move in and out of them whenever needed, offering lots of flexibility. Within channels, you can create threads that help organize multiple conversations going on at once. These side chats help prevent tangents from distracting from the primary focus. One of the most useful features of Slack is its search feature.

The pros & cons of Slack

Slack is simple for new users to jump right in, without too much setup time. The interface is obvious, allowing teams to sign up and start talking right away. The program has a long list of apps that can be added so that content can be discussed across a variety of platforms right inside of Slack. One of the most used apps used is Google Drive, making Slack an ideal program for businesses that use Google Drive as its main content management platform. Slack has proven beneficial for both small and large companies. Startups and large corporations can utilize Slack’s various channels. Each department can have its distinct thread, making it easy to divide and conquer.

Addictive, have you ever feel like you can't separate from the major work after hours? here, the organizations may feel that they require to be constantly plugged in only to make this tool (slack) advantageous. The earlier topics can be buried all before an employee wakes up, leaving a lot of gaps in information & communication.

The initial remote firms may consider it difficult to keep everyone in the loop. Slack is quite remarkable mainly for quickly keeping the tabs on what's exactly going on, but when it all comes to the discussions of big-picture, it's a little lacking. Maintaining a conversation from the very start to finish can be difficult, leaving deeper conversations to the other tools.

Slack excels at the rapid exchanges between users and groups that enable companies to make decisions and communicate requirements quickly and agilely. It’s not especially great for in-depth conversations or for pieces that need a sit-down, in-person meeting. Because it’s entirely web-based, it’s great for distributed teams. But don’t rely on the message history for review, because the entry-level plans cap your message history at a fairly low number.

Another concern is that Slack is yet another communication channel. It’s a hard sell to get someone to alter their communication patterns, but Slack does message well enough that it’s replaced texting for my team almost entirely, and it’s averted several near meetings for us, saving us time and doughnuts. You might well find (as we have) that Slack ends up simplifying your overall communication patterns.

How to search for people and messages in Slack?

As you start typing in the search box, Slack suggests things you might like to search for, like a particular person or messages from people in a channel.

Search is one of slack's most useful features and you're likely to implement a lot. Everything that's posted, by integrations or humans is indexed by slack for quick retrieval later.

Add custom emojis in slack

Emojis are core to every workflow—at least, they're core to any workflow worth having. But your company has its own unique culture, and that culture deserves its emoji. Happily Slack makes it easy to add your own. In slack, there is a wide range of emojis that are integrated with the flow of work. Custom emojis in slack are super easy to use.

Steps of uploading custom emojis in slack

1. Open Shift on your desktop, and open the work-space you want to add a GIF to (each work-space has its own GIF directory, so add the custom GIF to each workplace you want to use it in).
2. Click your workspace name in the top left.
3. Select "Customize Slack" from the menu.
4. Click "Add Custom Emoji," then "Upload Image" to select a file.
5. Choose a name. The name you pick is what you'll enter to display the emoji in Slack.
6. Click "Save."

These are the basic steps through which anyone can upload new and custom emojis. And there is a lot to do it. Happy emoji-ing!

Final Words

As we have discussed that the slack keeps a history of all the communications along with the crucial information, so any shared pictures- messages, or files can be retrieved at any time. Hope this was helpful to you all whosoever reading this blog. Have a good read!