| Foreword | p. xiii |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| About This Book | p. 2 |
| Foolish Assumptions | p. 2 |
| Icons Used in This Book | p. 4 |
| Beyond the Book | p. 5 |
| Where to Go from Here | p. 5 |
Part 1 | Working Smarter and Better with Slack | p. 7 |
Chapter 1 | Why Slack Exists | p. 9 |
| Introducing Slack | p. 9 |
| Meeting Slack's Users and Customers | p. 13 |
| Understanding Why Slack Exists | p. 14 |
| Email: The blessing and all-too-frequent curse | p. 15 |
| Trapped institutional knowledge | p. 16 |
| Employees often can't find what they want - quickly or even at all | p. 17 |
| What Slack Specifically Does | p. 18 |
| Employer benefits | p. 18 |
| Employee benefits | p. 23 |
Chapter 2 | Getting Started with Slack | p. 29 |
| Reviewing Slack's Different Versions | p. 29 |
| Free plan | p. 30 |
| Standard plan | p. 30 |
| Plus plan | p. 31 |
| Enterprise Grid | p. 31 |
| Changing your Slack plan | p. 31 |
| Describing Slack's cost structure | p. 33 |
| Beginning Your Slack Journey with the Workspace | p. 35 |
| Creating a new Slack workspace | p. 36 |
| Signing in to an existing Slack workspace | p. 37 |
| Accessing your new workspace | p. 40 |
| Using the Slack desktop app | p. 40 |
| Introducing the Slack user interface | p. 42 |
| Summarizing Slack's Different Roles and Permissions | p. 44 |
| Administrative roles | p. 44 |
| Non-administrative roles | p. 46 |
| Managing member roles | p. 47 |
| Enterprise Grid roles and permissions | p. 51 |
| Starting Your New Workspace Off on the Right Foot | p. 52 |
| Expanding your existing workspace | p. 52 |
| Configuring your member profile and key account settings | p. 54 |
Part 2 | Communicating without Chaos | p. 57 |
Chapter 3 | Targeting Your Communication with Slack Channels | p. 59 |
| Introducing Slack Channels | p. 60 |
| Exploring the Different Types of Slack Channels | p. 61 |
| Public channels | p. 62 |
| Private channels | p. 63 |
| Multi-workspace channels | p. 65 |
| Shared channels | p. 67 |
| Creating Public and Private Channels | p. 69 |
| Creating your first public channel | p. 70 |
| Building an intelligent channel structure | p. 73 |
| Viewing basic channel information | p. 75 |
| Performing Channel Actions | p. 76 |
| Group actions | p. 77 |
| Individual actions | p. 81 |
| Adding Members to Existing Channels | p. 83 |
| Manual additions | p. 83 |
| Default workplace channels | p. 85 |
| Exploring Existing Public Channels | p. 85 |
| Communicating via Slack Channels | p. 87 |
| Posting simple channel messages | p. 88 |
| Understanding channel etiquette | p. 89 |
Chapter 4 | The Wonderful World of Slack Messages | p. 91 |
| Understanding Slack Messages | p. 92 |
| Sending a Message | p. 92 |
| Performing basic message actions | p. 94 |
| Formatting your messages | p. 96 |
| Finding people in your workspace | p. 98 |
| Editing messages | p. 100 |
| Deleting messages | p. 101 |
| Muting conversations | p. 101 |
| Setting message-specific reminders | p. 102 |
| Saving DMs and channel messages | p. 102 |
| Pinning DMs to conversations | p. 103 |
| Creating special types of messages | p. 104 |
| Converting group DMs into private channels | p. 108 |
| Using threads to create topic-specific containers | p. 109 |
| Sharing in Slack | p. 111 |
| Sharing files | p. 111 |
| Sharing messages | p. 114 |
| Comparing Email and Slack | p. 116 |
| Forwarding Email to Slack | p. 117 |
| Communicating Outside of Slack | p. 117 |
Chapter 5 | Staying Informed with Notifications, Statuses, and Feeds | p. 119 |
| Getting Your Arms around Notifications | p. 120 |
| Managing Slack notifications | p. 120 |
| Reviewing the different types of Slack notifications | p. 122 |
| Letting Others Know Your Availability | p. 130 |
| Setting your status | p. 131 |
| Viewing your colleagues' statuses | p. 132 |
| Editing your status | p. 133 |
| Clearing your status | p. 133 |
| Setting yourself to away/active | p. 133 |
| Unplugging with Do Not Disturb mode | p. 134 |
| Configuring Device-Specific Notifications | p. 137 |
| Enabling notifications on mobile devices | p. 137 |
| Understanding when settings collide | p. 137 |
| Finding Other Ways to Stay Current | p. 138 |
| Receiving emails on recent activity | p. 138 |
| Viewing mentions and reactions | p. 139 |
Part 3 | Becoming a Slack Power User | p. 141 |
Chapter 6 | Going Deeper into Slack's Functionality | p. 143 |
| Making Calls in Slack | p. 143 |
| Types of calls | p. 144 |
| Calls and security | p. 148 |
| Sharing Your Screen in Slack | p. 149 |
| Presenting and viewing | p. 149 |
| Drawing | p. 150 |
| Saving Even More Time in Slack | p. 150 |
| Invoking keyboard shortcuts | p. 151 |
| Using commands | p. 152 |
| Managing Your Life with Reminders | p. 153 |
| Saving Items | p. 155 |
| Saving files | p. 155 |
| Saving messages | p. 155 |
| Quickly accessing your saved items | p. 155 |
| Creating User Groups | p. 156 |
Chapter 7 | Finding What You Need with Slack's Powerful Search Techniques | p. 159 |
| Searching for Better Search Methods | p. 160 |
| Performing Searches in Slack | p. 161 |
| Searching by workspace members | p. 163 |
| Restricting searches to specific date ranges | p. 164 |
| Using negative keywords | p. 165 |
| Referencing multiple keywords | p. 166 |
| Restricting search results even more | p. 167 |
| Searching by user reactions | p. 167 |
| Searching by wildcards | p. 168 |
| Searching by fuzziness | p. 169 |
| Searching by additional modifiers | p. 170 |
| Getting the Most Out of Search in Slack | p. 170 |
| Start small | p. 170 |
| Embrace modifiers | p. 171 |
| Remember that results change over time | p. 172 |
| Be patient | p. 172 |
Chapter 8 | Personalizing Slack | p. 173 |
| Getting to Know Your Slack Options | p. 174 |
| Configuring global workspace settings | p. 175 |
| Personalizing your Slack options | p. 179 |
| Customizing User Profiles | p. 185 |
| Creating custom fields | p. 186 |
| Populating custom fields | p. 187 |
| Organizing Your Sidebar | p. 189 |
| Using sections | p. 189 |
| Sorting channels | p. 191 |
Chapter 9 | Keeping It Safe: Reviewing Slack's Security and Privacy Settings | p. 193 |
| Getting Acquainted with Slack Security | p. 194 |
| Security and Slack's Evolution | p. 194 |
| Configuring Slack's Access and Security Settings | p. 195 |
| Confirming sign-ins via email | p. 195 |
| Resetting your password | p. 195 |
| Viewing access logs | p. 197 |
| Enabling two-factor authentication | p. 198 |
| Additional security features | p. 200 |
| Enhancing Security via Slack Enterprise Grid | p. 201 |
| Examining Privacy in Slack | p. 202 |
| Message encryption | p. 202 |
| What data Workspace Admins can Access | p. 204 |
| Workspace message-retention settings | p. 204 |
| File-retention settings | p. 207 |
| Understanding Slack's Tricky Regulatory Environment | p. 208 |
| Restrictions on data and file retention | p. 208 |
| Data residency | p. 208 |
Part 4 | Extending Slack's Native Functionality | p. 211 |
Chapter 10 | Making Slack Hum with Robust Third-Party Apps | p. 213 |
| Understanding How Slack Has Embraced Platform Thinking | p. 214 |
| Comparing Public and Private Apps | p. 215 |
| Public apps | p. 215 |
| Private apps and integrations | p. 215 |
| Enhancing Slack with Third-Party Apps | p. 216 |
| Looking at app costs | p. 216 |
| The Slack App Directory | p. 217 |
| Introducing Some Popular 5lack Apps | p. 218 |
| Polling apps | p. 218 |
| File- and content-sharing apps | p. 220 |
| Scheduling apps | p. 221 |
| Productivity and project-management apps | p. 223 |
| IFTTT Slack applets | p. 224 |
| Video-calling apps | p. 225 |
| Email apps and integrations | p. 225 |
| Miscellaneous apps | p. 226 |
| Finding and Installing Apps | p. 227 |
| Browsing the Slack App Directory | p. 228 |
| Installing a Slack app in your workspace | p. 228 |
| Searching for specific apps | p. 230 |
| Experimenting with new apps | p. 230 |
| Managing Apps and App Permissions | p. 231 |
| Approving specific apps | p. 231 |
| Regulating workspace apps | p. 232 |
| Viewing all your workspace apps | p. 236 |
| Enforcing your organization's app policy | p. 236 |
| Removing apps from your workspace | p. 238 |
| Disappearing apps | p. 239 |
| Disabling and re-enabling preserved apps | p. 239 |
| Viewing app activity logs | p. 240 |
| Using Workflow Builder | p. 241 |
| Creating workflows | p. 241 |
| Heeding workflow warnings | p. 244 |
Chapter 11 | Analyzing, Importing, Exporting, and Updating Slack User Data | p. 245 |
| Analyzing Workspace Data | p. 246 |
| Slack's analytics dashboard | p. 246 |
| Channel-specific analytics | p. 250 |
| Member analytics | p. 252 |
| Viewing Member Access Logs | p. 253 |
| Moving Data Around in Slack | p. 254 |
| Exporting data from Slack | p. 254 |
| Importing data into Slack | p. 258 |
| Consolidating Slack workspaces | p. 259 |
| Avoiding mistakes when migrating data | p. 261 |
| Performing Mass Updates to User Data | p. 262 |
Chapter 12 | Integrating Slack with Popular Enterprise Systems | p. 263 |
| A Brief Primer on Enterprise Systems | p. 264 |
| Back-office systems | p. 264 |
| Front-office systems | p. 265 |
| Slack and Current Enterprise Systems | p. 265 |
| Exploring current system integrations | p. 268 |
| Creating new system integrations | p. 270 |
| Looking forward | p. 274 |
Part 5 | Successfully Introducing Slack in the Workspace | p. 275 |
Chapter 13 | The Elements of Persuasion: Slack-Adoption Strategies | p. 277 |
| A Brief Primer on Network Effects | p. 278 |
| Reviewing the Different Slack-Adoption Approaches | p. 279 |
| The bottom-up method | p. 279 |
| The top-down method | p. 280 |
| The middle-out method | p. 280 |
| Making Slack Stick at Work | p. 281 |
| Organization-level strategies | p. 281 |
| Strategies for handling difficult employees | p. 286 |
Chapter 14 | The Inherent Risks of Deploying Slack | p. 297 |
| Identifying the Risks of Using Slack | p. 298 |
| Business risks | p. 298 |
| Technology and security risks | p. 304 |
| Listing Slack's Environmental Challenges | p. 307 |
| Slack's financial pressures | p. 308 |
| Stiff competition | p. 310 |
| Ongoing legal and privacy concerns | p. 311 |
Chapter 15 | The Future of Slack: We're Just Getting Started | p. 315 |
| Increased Use of Automation and Bots | p. 316 |
| AI and machine learning make Slack smarter - much, much smarter | p. 317 |
| Slack begins to monitor employee morale and diagnose cultural issues | p. 318 |
| Tighter Integration with Popular Enterprise Systems | p. 319 |
| Better Dashboards and Analytics | p. 319 |
| A More Powerful Slack Work Graph | p. 320 |
| Continued Borrowing of Popular Features from Other Apps | p. 322 |
| Key Acquisitions and Partnerships | p. 326 |
Part 6 | The Part of Tens | p. 327 |
Chapter 16 | Ten Great Slack Tips | p. 329 |
| Respond Promptly to New Users' Requests, Questions, and Feedback | p. 329 |
| Regularly View Slack Analytics | p. 330 |
| Tread Lightly with New Hires | p. 330 |
| Establish Slack as the Default Medium for Internal Communication | p. 330 |
| Emphasize Slack's Carrots More Than Its Sticks | p. 331 |
| Keep an Eye Out for New Slack Apps | p. 331 |
| Tell Overly Exuberant Slack Members to Tone It Down | p. 331 |
| Publicize Your Status and Availability | p. 331 |
| Try Before You Buy | p. 332 |
| Know When to Turn Slack Off | p. 332 |
Chapter 17 | Ten or So Common Slack Myths | p. 333 |
| Slack Is just Email 2.0 | p. 333 |
| Slack Decimates the Need for Email | p. 334 |
| All Organizations Configure Slack in a Uniform Way | p. 334 |
| Slack Obviates the Need for In-Person Communication | p. 335 |
| Slack Solves Every Conceivable Business-Communication Problem | p. 335 |
| Slack Is Too Expensive for Our Company | p. 335 |
| Our Company Has Built a Tool That's Just as Good as Slack | p. 336 |
| Our Employees Don't Need Slack | p. 336 |
| Our Company Uses Slack and Nothing Else for Collaboration | p. 337 |
| You Can't Misuse Slack | p. 338 |
Chapter 18 | The Top Ten or So Slack Resources | p. 339 |
| Slack Online Support | p. 340 |
| Contacting Slack | p. 340 |
| Browsing the Slack support site | p. 340 |
| Opening cases or making suggestions within the Slack app | p. 340 |
| Finding Slack tips | p. 340 |
| Submitting Slack feature requests | p. 341 |
| Other Online Resources | p. 341 |
| Official resources | p. 341 |
| Unofficial resources | p. 342 |
| Developer resources | p. 343 |
| In-Person Resources | p. 343 |
| Conferences | p. 343 |
| Meetups | p. 344 |
| In-person training | p. 345 |
| Index | p. 347 |