Slack continues to evolve as one of the most popular messaging tools used by companies worldwide. Beyond basic instant chat functionality, Slack has introduced powerful new AI-driven features, enhanced collaboration tools, and productivity enhancements that many users haven't discovered yet. This updated guide reveals both classic hidden features and the latest innovations that can transform how you work with your team.
🤖 New AI-Powered Features
1. Slack AI for Intelligent Search and Summaries
Slack AI revolutionizes how you find and digest information. Ask questions in natural language like "What's our Q1 sales strategy?" and get clear, concise answers with direct citations to relevant messages. The AI searches through public conversations, shared files, canvases, and clips to provide comprehensive responses.
2. Channel Recaps and Daily Digests
Never miss important updates again. Slack AI automatically generates morning recaps of your most important channels, summarizing key highlights from the previous day. You can customize which channels appear in your daily digest, ensuring you stay informed without information overload.
3. Thread Summaries with One Click
Joining a lengthy discussion mid-way? Click the summarize button to get instant context on what's been discussed, making it easy to contribute meaningfully to ongoing conversations.
4. AI-Powered Huddle Notes
Slack AI can automatically take notes during huddles, generating summaries, transcripts, action items, and organizing shared files in a canvas for easy reference after the meeting.
5. AI-Enhanced Workflow Builder
Create complex workflows by simply typing commands. For example, type "Remind my team to send project updates every Monday at 9:00 a.m. PT" and Slack AI will generate the entire workflow for you to review and publish.
📋 Canvas: Your New Collaboration Hub
6. Channel-Specific Canvases
Every channel and direct message now comes with its own canvas—a persistent collaboration space where you can curate important information, embed workflows, and organize resources that won't get lost in message threads.
7. Real-Time Document Collaboration
Create standalone canvases for project planning, meeting agendas, or knowledge sharing. Multiple team members can edit simultaneously, with built-in commenting, reactions, and revision history.
8. Canvas Templates for Quick Setup
Choose from 15+ ready-made templates including employee onboarding, marketing project outlines, and incident reports to jumpstart your collaborative documents.
9. Embed Workflows in Canvases
Add interactive buttons and forms directly into canvases, making it easy for team members to launch workflows for common tasks like IT requests or travel bookings.
🔄 Enhanced Workflow Automation
10. 50+ Workflow Templates
Slack now offers over 50 plug-and-play workflow templates for common business processes. Simply customize the templates for onboarding, meeting agendas, incident response, and more.
11. External Trigger Workflows
Workflows can now start automatically when events occur in third-party tools like PagerDuty, Asana, or Jira, centralizing your work in Slack without constant context switching.
12. Advanced Connector Steps
Connect workflows to 65+ third-party applications with enhanced connector steps that no longer incur additional usage-based billing.
🎯 Improved Organization and Productivity
13. Folders for Channel Organization
Organize important information by adding folders to any channel or direct message header. Each folder can contain up to 100 canvases, lists, files, and links.
14. Enhanced Lists with Task Tracking
Create lists with new task-tracking fields, add subtasks to any item, and set up automations to send reminders about upcoming deadlines.
15. Scheduled Messages in Threads
Schedule messages to be sent in the future within any thread, perfect for responding at appropriate times across different time zones.
16. VIP Notifications
Prioritize notifications from specific apps or workflows by adding them to your VIP list, ensuring critical alerts never get missed.
17. Simplified Layout Mode
Use simplified layout mode for a more streamlined desktop experience that minimizes distractions, especially helpful for single-taskers and users with assistive technology.
⚡ Classic Hidden Features (Still Valuable)
18. Channel Prefix Guidelines
Create preset channel naming conventions that appear as dropdown options when team members create new channels, maintaining organizational consistency.
19. Default Channels for New Members
Set up automatic channel assignments for new team members, ensuring they're welcomed to the right channels and have access to important information immediately.
20. Custom Keywords for Notifications
Set up personalized notifications for specific keywords like client names or project codes, so you never miss important mentions.
21. Advanced Search Modifiers
Use powerful search operators like:
from:@nameto find messages from specific peoplein:#channelto search within specific channelshas:linkto find messages with linksbefore:dateorafter:datefor time-based searches
22. Custom Slackbot Responses
Program Slackbot to respond automatically to preset keywords with helpful information like WiFi passwords or lunch suggestions.
23. Message Reminders
Hover over any message and set a reminder to revisit it at a specific time, perfect for following up on important items.
24. Compact Theme with Color Coding
Switch to compact theme for denser message display, then use the /color @username hexcode command to assign colors to teammates for better identification.
25. Collapse Media Previews
Use /collapse to hide all inline image previews for a cleaner chat experience, or /expand to bring them back.
🔐 Enterprise and Security Features
26. Enterprise Search (Enterprise Grid + Slack AI)
Search across all connected apps like Google Drive, GitHub, and more from a single AI-powered search bar, making enterprise-wide information discovery seamless.
27. Agentforce Integration
For Salesforce customers, bring AI agents directly into Slack channels to participate in conversations and provide insights based on CRM data.
28. Data Residency Controls
Organizations can now choose where certain types of customer data are stored, providing greater control over data location and compliance.
💡 Pro Tips for Maximum Productivity
- Combine features: Use Canvas to document workflows, then embed those workflows as buttons for easy team access
- Leverage AI daily: Set up daily recaps for key channels and use AI search instead of scrolling through history
- Template everything: Create workflow and canvas templates for recurring processes to maintain consistency
- Stay organized: Use folders, custom sections, and VIP notifications to prioritize what matters most
Frequently Asked Questions
AI-Powered Features
Q: How does Slack AI search actually work and what can I ask it?
A: Slack AI search uses natural language processing to understand your questions and searches through all your public conversations, shared files, canvases, and clips. You can ask questions like "What's our Q1 sales strategy?" or "Show me decisions made about the product launch" and get direct answers with citations. It works best with specific, contextual questions rather than broad searches.
Q: Can Slack AI automatically summarize my missed messages?
A: Yes, Slack AI offers two summary features: Channel Recaps that provide morning summaries of your most important channels from the previous day, and Thread Summaries that give you instant context when you join lengthy discussions mid-conversation. You can customize which channels appear in your daily digest.
Q: Does Slack AI take notes during meetings automatically?A: Slack AI can automatically generate notes during huddles, including summaries, transcripts, action items, and organizing shared files in a canvas. This feature helps ensure nothing important gets lost and provides easy reference material after meetings end.
Canvas and Collaboration
Q: What exactly is Slack Canvas and how is it different from regular messages?
A: Slack Canvas is a persistent collaboration space that exists alongside your messages. Unlike messages that can get buried in chat history, Canvas provides a dedicated area where you can curate important information, embed workflows, create documents, and organize resources. Every channel and direct message gets its own canvas automatically.
Q: Can multiple people edit a Canvas at the same time?
A: Yes, Canvas supports real-time collaboration similar to Google Docs. Multiple team members can edit simultaneously, with built-in commenting, reactions, and revision history. You can also create standalone canvases for project planning, meeting agendas, or knowledge sharing.
Q: Are there templates available for Canvas?
A: Slack provides 15+ ready-made Canvas templates including employee onboarding, marketing project outlines, incident reports, and meeting agendas. These templates help you get started quickly without building from scratch.
Workflow Automation
Q: Can I create Slack workflows without knowing how to code?
A: Absolutely. Slack's AI-Enhanced Workflow Builder lets you create complex workflows by simply typing commands. For example, type "Remind my team to send project updates every Monday at 9:00 a.m. PT" and Slack AI generates the entire workflow for you to review and publish. There are also 50+ plug-and-play templates available.
Q: Can Slack workflows start automatically from other apps?
A: Yes, workflows can now start automatically when events occur in third-party tools like PagerDuty, Asana, or Jira. This means you can centralize your work notifications and responses in Slack without constantly switching between applications.
Q: How many apps can I connect to Slack workflows?
A: Slack workflows can connect to 65+ third-party applications through enhanced connector steps. These connections no longer incur additional usage-based billing, making it more cost-effective to integrate multiple tools.
Organization and Productivity
Q: How can I better organize my Slack channels and reduce clutter?
A: Use several organization features: create folders in channel headers to store up to 100 canvases, lists, files, and links; set up VIP notifications for critical apps; use simplified layout mode for less distraction; and create custom keyword notifications for important terms like client names or project codes.
Q: What's the best way to search for old messages in Slack?
A: Use advanced search modifiers for precise results:
from:@usernameto find messages from specific peoplein:#channelto search within specific channelshas:linkto find messages containing linksbefore:2024-12-01orafter:2024-12-01for time-based searches- Combine modifiers like
from:@john in:#marketing has:link
Q: Can I schedule messages to send later in Slack?
A: Yes, you can schedule messages to be sent in the future, including within specific threads. This is particularly useful for communicating across different time zones or ensuring messages are sent at appropriate times.
Getting Started
Q: Which Slack features should I start with as a new user?
A: Begin with these high-impact features: set up daily channel recaps for your most important channels, use AI search instead of scrolling through message history, create your first Canvas for team resources, and set up custom keyword notifications for your name and important project terms.
Q: How do I set up automatic responses in Slack?
A: Use custom Slackbot responses by going to your workspace settings and programming Slackbot to respond automatically to preset keywords. This is perfect for sharing common information like WiFi passwords, lunch suggestions, or frequently asked questions.
Q: Can I customize how Slack looks and feels?
A: Yes, several customization options are available: switch to compact theme for denser message display, use /color @username hexcode to assign colors to teammates for better identification, collapse media previews with /collapse for a cleaner experience, and use simplified layout mode to minimize distractions.
Enterprise Features
Q: How does Enterprise Search work across multiple apps?
A: With Enterprise Grid and Slack AI, you can search across all connected apps like Google Drive, GitHub, and more from a single AI-powered search bar. This makes enterprise-wide information discovery seamless without switching between different applications.
Q: Can I control where my Slack data is stored?
A: Yes, organizations now have data residency controls that allow you to choose where certain types of customer data are stored, providing greater control over data location and compliance requirements.
Q: What is Agentforce integration in Slack?
A: For Salesforce customers, Agentforce integration brings AI agents directly into Slack channels where they can participate in conversations and provide insights based on your CRM data, creating a more integrated workflow between sales and communication tools.
What's Coming Next
Slack continues to innovate with upcoming features including deeper AI integrations, enhanced agent capabilities, and expanded workflow automation. The platform is evolving from a simple messaging tool into a comprehensive work operating system that keeps teams connected, informed, and productive.
Whether you're new to Slack or a longtime user, these features can significantly enhance your team's collaboration and productivity. Start with the AI-powered summaries and channel recaps to save time, then gradually explore Canvas and workflow automation to streamline your processes.
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