If Slack is your office, not only will you want to know best Slack tips but also how to fix Slack issues. Nobody wants to look like a fool that can’t navigate the office software without a tutorial from the manager, after all. And that goes doubly so if you work in tech, where these sorts of things are likely expected of you.
But there’s not much to worry about. The program runs smoothly most of the time and we’re here to help you for the times it does not. Here are our top tips to get you back in your Slack game and avert troubles.
One of the most common issues with Slack is connectivity. And while there have been instances of the entire platform being down, connectivity issues don’t just stem from worldwide outages. It’s also possible that your connection issues could be on your end. If you’re having trouble connecting to Slack, the first thing you need to do is check your own connection. Check your connection by attempting to load another website in your browser. Slack also recommends checking your connection to its service by using its own connection test, which can be accessed at slack.com/help/test.
If your connection passes the two tests above, then it’s likely that Slack is experiencing its own platform-wide outage, and you’ll have to wait until Slack resolves it. You can confirm such an outage by visiting a website like Downdetector, which will allow you to look up the current outage status of services like Slack. Slack also has its own status board.
If your connection is the problem, then you’ll need to reset your internet connection and then restart Slack. In most cases, this should resolve your connectivity issue.
You’ve just been enrolled in your company’s Slack workspace and have been invited to a number of channels so you can keep up with the goings-on at your job. That’s great, except for the fact that now you’re getting what seems like a million notifications on your computer and phone every time a co-worker says something, even when it has nothing to do with you. Here are a few ways to reduce them. The three most effective methods are: Do Not Disturb, leaving a channel, or muting a channel.
Enabling the Do Not Disturb (DND) feature is great if you need to temporarily mute all notifications. To do so, select your Profile Picture icon in the top-right corner of your screen and choose Pause Notifications. In the pop-up menu that appears, choose your desired time period for which you’d like notifications to be paused.
You can also just leave a channel if you think most of the messages in it don’t really concern you. When you want to leave a channel, just right-click on the channel’s name in your sidebar and select the Leave Channel option from the menu that appears. You can also leave a channel by navigating to that channel and then clicking on the Show Channel Details icon in the top-right corner of that channel. This icon looks like a circle with an “i” in it. Then, click on the More icon. In the pop-up menu that appears, choose Leave #Name-of-Channel. You should be able to join the channel again if you need to do so later.
You also have the option to mute a channel. If you mute a channel, you won’t receive notifications from it even in situations where you’re mentioned. To mute (or unmute) a channel, you can right-click on a channel’s name in the sidebar and choose the Mute/Unmute Channel option from the menu that pops up. You can also mute a channel by opening that channel, clicking on the Show channel details icon, and then clicking on the More icon. In the pop-up menu that appears, choose Mute/Unmute #Name-of-Channel.
Conversely, if you notice that your Slack notifications are not working or that Slack is not making a notification sound, be sure to make sure that Do Not Disturb is not on and that notifications are not paused.
Maybe you’re on a Slack video call, but you’re having trouble hearing the people on the other end, or they’re having trouble hearing you. If you’re having Slack issues with audio on your calls, there are a few troubleshooting methods you can try.
If you’re searching for a specific Slack message, scrolling through your channels to find it can seem daunting. But you don’t have to live like that. You can always search for a message by using the search box at the top of the screen. When searching Slack this way, you also have access to filters and modifiers that can help you narrow down your results by things like people, channels, or time periods.
And as a preventive measure against this Slack issue, you can also pin important messages to the top of a conversation or channel so that you or others can review them later if needed. You can pin a message by hovering over it and selecting the More Actions (three vertical dots) icon that pops up. Once you select that icon, a menu should appear.
Choose the Pin to Channel option from that menu. When you want to view a pinned message in a channel or conversation, select the Pushpin icon at the top of the channel or conversation. You’ll be shown a sidebar that displays all the pinned messages from that channel or direct message.
Usually, you can click on your message alert and watch it disappear as you read the message, but sometimes this doesn’t happen. For example, some people are reporting that the threads badge won’t go away. If you have a notification sticking around, you can refresh the alerts. This can only be done if you clear the app’s cache so it wipes out all lingering notifications while refreshing the ability for the alerts to function normally. We searched the Help Center for the steps to do this on the desktop, Android, and iOS apps.
In the Slack desktop app, you can clear your cache by clicking on the Three Horizontal Lines icon in the top-left corner of your screen. Then, select Help>Troubleshooting>Clear Cache and Restart.
In the Slack Android app, click on the You icon at the bottom-right corner of your screen. Then select Preferences>Advanced>Reset Cache. Tap Yes to confirm.
For the iOS Slack app, you’ll actually visit your iOS device’s Settings app. Then, you’ll select Slack>Reset Cache on Next Launch. Then, open the Slack app again.
If you aren’t receiving updates like you expected and Slack doesn’t seem to be automatically registering new messages like it usually does, you probably have a Slack issue with WebSocket connections. When this happens, you’ll often see a message that says, “Last updated less than a minute ago…”
Typically, WebSocket connections will be supported, although some network administrators may have rules prohibiting that. Try restarting Slack as we mentioned above and see if the issue is resolved. Reboot your device entirely if it persists.
If you keep encountering this error and delay, contact your network administrator and let them know about the problem. Slack asks that you send in Net Logs to document this issue so it can be studied more closely.
If your device is actually jailbroken, then Slack is programmed to not work. However, this problem often comes up when Slack thinks that a device is jailbroken, when it really isn’t. This is often an issue with certain settings IT has chosen for work phones, so apply any outstanding updates to the Slack app, and contact your system administrator or manager.
If you work from home, you want to look busy, but Slack statuses might affect your ability to do so. Unfortunately, unlike some apps, Slack does not allow you much customization over your current status. If you are online but not currently active in Slack, your status will show it. If you aren’t online at all, Slack will show it. If time on Slack is really being used as a measure of your productivity, we suggest downloading the app to as many devices as possible and making sure you are always logged in on one wherever you are.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.