Staying Informed

with Notifications,
Statuses, and Feeds
Getting Your Arms around Notifications
Getting Your Arms around Notifications
At a high level, Slack notifications call attention to all the things in a workspace that interest you. To be fair, that’s potentially a big
bucket. More specifically, you can set notifications when any or all of the following events take place:
1. Someone sends you a DM
2. Someone mentions you in a channel by using @username
3. Someone mentions @everyone in a channel
4. Someone uses one of your keywords
5. Slackbot reminds you to do something
Of course, you can tweak all of these settings. That is, when each of these five things happens, Slack doesn't have to notify you.
Slack gives users unparalleled ability to control your alerts.
Managing Slack notifications
When you first install Slack and join a workspace, out-of-the-
box Slack notifies you only when someone sends you a DM
or mentions you in a channel by using your username.
By default, any unread workspace activity will cause Slack to
display an indicator, or what Slack and other apps these days
term a badge. The two types of Slack’s badges are
- Dot: Signifies general unread activity in one of your
Slack workspaces.
- Number in a red circle: Someone has done one of the
following:
- Sent you a direct message
- Mentioned you or posted in a pubic channel to
which you belong
- Used one of your keywords in a pubic channel to
which you belong.
If you belong to multiple workspaces, then you may be
worried about missing messages in one while working in the
other. Don’t be. Slack displays a numerical badge to the left
of the sidebar indicating that new activity has taken place in
the other workspace.
Reviewing the different types of Slack notifications

In Slack, notifications represent an umbrella term

covering a number of different types of alerts. At a
high level, you can view the settings for your
workspace notifications by following these steps:
1. Click on the main menu.
2. From the drop-down menu, click on
Preferences.
At the top of the screen, you see the word
Notifications
Letting Others Know Your Availability
Setting your status
Set your status by following these steps:
1. Click on the main menu and then on Update your status.
2. Click on Set a Status, which appears underneath your
name.
3. Enter a custom status or select an existing one.
If you like, pick an emoji that describes your status.

Now everyone in the workspace can view your

status.
4. Click on the Save button.
Viewing your colleagues’ statuses
From time to time, you will want to view your colleagues’ statuses. To this end, do one of the following:
1. If you have recently exchanged DMs with the person, then click on the member’s name in the
sidebar under Direct messages.
If Jesse has set a status, then it appears at the top of the workspace to the immediate right of his
name.

2. If not, then click on People in the sidebar.

Slack displays the member’s status underneath his name.

3. If you see a white callout or emoji to the right of a person’s name in the sidebar, then mouse
over it.
Slack displays the member’s status.
Editing your status
Slack recognizes that you do different things throughout the day or week, so your status
invariably changes. As such, you can and should set different statuses. For example, you
may not want to be disturbed if you’re in an important meeting. On the other hand, you
may be relatively free on Tuesday afternoon.
A Slack status is meant to be temporary. At some point, you will want to change it.
Follow these steps:
1. Click on the main menu.
2. Enter your new status in the white text box below your name.
Your status is now blank.
Clearing your status
To remove your status altogether, follow these steps:
1. Click on the main menu.
2. At the top of the drop-down menu, click on Clear status.
Your status is now blank.
Setting yourself to away/active
When you indicate that you’re away, Slack grays out your name
in the sidebar. This way, your colleagues see that you’re
unavailable. Of course, just like email, they can still send you
messages, but they shouldn’t expect an immediate response.
To indicate that you are away, follow these steps:
1. Click on the main menu.
2. From the drop-down menu, select Change. If you’re
active, then Slack flips your status to inactive and vice
versa.
When you return to a workspace after indicating that you’re away,
Slack asks you whether you want to let your colleagues know that
you are now available.
Unplugging with Do Not Disturb mode
Setting a DND schedule
Here’s how you set your default hours during which you don’t want to receive Slack
notifications:
1. Click on the main menu.
2. From the drop-down menu, select Pause notifications.
Slack displays a sub-menu to your immediate right.

3. Click on Do Not Disturb Schedule from the drop-down menu.

4. Pick the times during which you’d like Slack to disable notifications.
5. Press the Esc key on your keyboard or click on X in the upper right-hand
corner of the screen.
Unplugging with Do Not Disturb mode
Manually activating DND mode
To pause notifications apart from your normal schedule, follow these steps:
1. Click on the main menu.
2. From the drop-down menu, mouse over Do Not Disturb.
Slack displays a sub-menu to your immediate right.
3. From the available options, choose how long you want to be left
alone.
After you have done this, Slack puts a small z next to your name at the top
of the workspace until your specified window elapses.
Unplugging with Do Not Disturb mode
Deactivating or adjusting DND mode
If you want to deactivate DND mode, then follow these steps:
1. Click on the main menu.
2. From the drop-down menu, mouse over Pause notifications.
Slack displays a sub-menu to your immediate right.
3. Click on Resume notifications now or, if you want to adjust
your time frame, click on Adjust Time.
Slack removes the small z next to your name at the top of the
workspace.