This article will cover the fundamentals of setting up a Slack group and group messaging, assuming no prior expertise.
Millions of users use Slack every day for an average of nine hours a day throughout the world. These users comprise almost half of non-technical roles. Despite being mostly user-friendly, Slack has a geeky quality to it. Those who are new to Slack and lack technical experience should read this post. It will go over the fundamentals of setting up a Slack group and group chat, assuming no prior expertise. First things first: What are Slack groups? Now let's get started.
On Slack, direct messages and channels are where most conversations happen. In Slack, a group is similar to a direct chat between two users, with the exception that it can contain three or more. You can form a new group by choosing the individuals you wish to message privately, or you can form an existing group by adding one or more additional members to an existing direct message. As you can see below, your Slack direct messaging groups will appear under the Direct messages tab.
One key distinction is that groups are hidden from view by default, but channels are visible to all participants in the conversation. Nonetheless, channels can be made private at the time of creation or at a later date, even though they are public by default.
Determining the goals of each channel and group may be a better method to tell them apart. Channels are typically used for discussions centred on particular subjects. For instance, the prefix topic_ is added by my organisation to the channels designated for topic discussion. In this manner, anyone wishing to learn more about a topic can join the relevant public channel.
However, groups are typically structured around the participants in the discussion rather than the subject matter. A discussion with a few coworkers at the water cooler would be the analogy in real life. Only other users who are participating in the conversation can see your conversation, which is always private. Slack allows you to start a new group from fresh or to make the prior messages available. You can also add more users to the conversation.
Let's learn how to build a group now that we are aware of the distinctions between a group and a channel.
Slack makes group creation really simple. Let's go cautiously.
Hovering over the tiny plus icon next to the Direct messages header is the first step. In addition to pressing the button, you may also quickly open the same window by using the shortcut CTRL + SHIFT + K, as seen in the image.
To view the buttons, hover above the Direct Messages header.
To open the Direct Messages screen, either click the button or utilise the shortcut. When you do, the screen that follows ought to appear. You can select who you wish to include in your private conversation on this screen. You can instantly open a direct message window with that individual by choosing one of the choices displayed beneath the search box. You can just start entering the name of the person you want to talk with if you want to choose someone who isn't on the initial list or if you want to add more than one person.
Suppose you would like to initiate a fresh group discussion with Allison and Nicholas. To begin, enter "Allison" in the To search field. After Slack tries to auto-complete the name for you, you can click Allison's name to start a direct conversation with her.
You can proceed with forming a group by entering Nicholas' name in the To area as you intended to talk to both Allison and Nicholas. Allison, Nicholas, and you will be the only members of the group conversation that Slack automatically creates. Once you begin a chat, Slack will display the current participants, as shown in the screenshot below.
Slack will add the group to the Direct messages section in the sidebar so you can return to it whenever you'd like as soon as you begin communicating within the group chat. You now understand how to form a new group! You should then invite others to join the group.
Let us try another scenario. You and Allison and Nicholas are having a great conversation. It's time to include John in the discussion. That's something you can achieve in a few simple, fast steps. Follow along!
To begin, click the title at the top of the group chat after it has opened. The list of participants in this chat is in the title. After you've done that, a screen allowing you to add other users will appear.
After that, select the "Add people" button and begin typing the person's name to be added to the conversation. You can expand your group to include up to nine members, as seen in the image below. You'll probably be better off making a private channel if you want to add more than that.
After choosing the people you wish to invite to the chat, you must choose if you want them to be able to view the files and earlier messages in the group. The new user will be added to the group chat if you decide to include conversation history. The member will be added to a new group with no prior files or messages if you decide to hide your chat history.
You are now aware of how to control the permissions for anyone you invite to join your conversation. Think about the chat history and make sure you choose the right option from those displayed in the conversation history screen to prevent unintentionally disclosing private information to the wrong person without the necessary authorizations.
Including User Groups
After learning how to include individuals in group direct messages, let's examine an additional method for grouping users. As per Slack, a user group is defined as follows:
A user group is a collection of people in a workspace who frequently require immediate notifications. You can @mention a member of your workspace in the same manner that you would mention a group by its unique name, such as @managers.
It is quite easy to form a user group, but remember that admins are the only ones who can do so.
Click the menu option on the upper left corner next to Browse Slack or More, then choose People & user groups to create a user group. The users in your user groups and workspace are displayed here.
The Create User Group screen will then appear after you click the Create a User Group button. This is where you give your group a name, a handle, and an objective. Additionally, you may choose which channels group members should be added to automatically.
The next step is to add members when you've completed this information, exactly like we did when we made the direct messaging groups before. You may now tag @support and the user group in Slack conversations by having anyone in your workgroup do so.
That's quite useful right now!
The People & user groups screen is where you may make changes to or remove your user group. To utilise the screen on the right, simply click on the user group.
We studied user groups and group direct messages in this topic. We went over the fundamentals of setting them up and how to administer them in Slack as an owner or admin. But Slack offers much more functionality than simply the essentials. Actually, Slack can be a productivity machine when given the correct tools. Pagerly comes into play in this situation.
Pagerly is a ticketing and workflow tool designed specifically for Slack. Pagerly uses workflows and tickets to automate the process of managing requests and approvals rather than doing so by hand. Are you curious how that seems in practice? Businesses all throughout the world integrate Pagerly with Slack for a number of reasons, such as:
Pagerly probably has workflow and ticketing features that can assist you automate any business process you have in Slack.
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John Pereira authored this post. John is an enthusiastic user of technology who is enthusiastic about both his job and technology in general. Having worked in the technology industry for more than 15 years, he is a specialist in large-scale web application development and APIs, as well as the technologies and procedures that go along with them.
