The Slack Cheat Sheet: Shortcuts, Commands, and Syntax to Know

Slack tops the current crop of digital workspace tools. It’s powerful enough to handle both huge teams and complex projects well.

If you use Slack at work, you’ll probably agree that its layout and feature set are quite complex. Fortunately, both these elements are well planned and easy to use. But with so much going on in the interface, it’s quite natural to miss out on several features unless you go looking for them specifically.

To remedy that, we decided to compile the best Slack tips into a cheat sheet for you. It contains keyboard shortcuts, search tricks, formatting syntax, and special commands that can speed up your Slack workflow. And the best part is that you can use them all without taking your hands off the keyboard!

FREE DOWNLOAD: This cheat sheet is available as a downloadable PDF from our distribution partner, TradePub. You will have to complete a short form to access it for the first time only. Download The Slack Cheat Sheet.

The Slack Cheat Sheet : Shortcuts, Commands, and Syntax to Know

Shortcut	Action
Keyboard Shortcuts On a Mac keyboard, press Option instead of Alt and Cmd instead of Ctrl for shortcuts.
Ctrl + k OR Ctrl + g OR ¹Ctrl + t	Open Quick Switcher
Ctrl + Shift + k	Browse DMs
¹Ctrl + Shift + t	Open Threads view
²Ctrl + Shift + a	Open All Unreads view
Ctrl + Shift + l	Browse channel list
³Alt + Down Arrow	Jump to next channel or DM
³Alt + Up Arrow	Jump to previous channel or DM
³Alt + Shift + Down Arrow	Jump to next unread channel or DM
³Alt + Shift + Up Arrow	Jump to previous unread channel or DM
Cmd + [ OR Cmd + Left Arrow	Move back in history
Cmd + ] OR Cmd + Right Arrow	Move forward in history
Ctrl + Shift + m	Open Activity pane
Ctrl + Shift + s	Open Starred Items pane
Ctrl + Shift + w	Open Workspace Directory
Ctrl + Shift + i	Open Channel Details pane
Ctrl + / (Slash)	Open Keyboard Shortcuts pane
Ctrl + . (Period)	Toggle right-hand pane
¹Ctrl + , (Comma)	Open Preferences
Ctrl + Shift + [	Switch to previous workspace
Ctrl + Shift + ]	Switch to next workspace
⁴Ctrl + [Number]	Switch to specific workspace
Ctrl + Alt	Show numbers assigned to workspaces in sidebar
Ctrl + f	Search the current channel or DM
Esc	Mark all messages in current channel or DM as read
Shift + Esc	Mark all messages as read
⁵Alt + click message	Mark message as oldest unread message
Ctrl + Shift + Y	Set or edit your Slack status
Ctrl + u	Upload file to current channel or DM
Ctrl + Shift + Enter	Create snippet in current channel or DM
⁶Up Arrow	Edit your last message in current channel or DM
Shift + Up Arrow	Select text to beginning of current line in message draft
Shift + Down Arrow	Select text to end of current line in message draft
Shift + Enter	Insert new line in message draft
Ctrl + b	Bold selected text
Ctrl + i	Italicize selected text
Ctrl + Shift + x	Strike through selected text
Ctrl + Shift + >	Indent selected text
Ctrl + Shift + c	Format selected text as inline code
Ctrl + Shift + 7	Format selected text as numbered list
Ctrl + Shift + 8	Format selected text as bulleted list
@[Character]	Show autocomplete options for display names
#[Character]	Show autocomplete options for channel names
:[Character]	Show autocomplete options for emoji
m	Toggle mute during call
v	Toggle video during call
+ (Plus) OR a	Show invite list during call
e + (1-9)	View and select emoji during call
@[username]	Notify specific person
@here	Notify active members of channel
@channel	Notify all members of channel, whether they’re active or not
@everyone	Notify all members of channel #general
Message Formatting Syntax
*text*	Bold text
_text_	Italicize text
~text~	Strike through text
>text	Indent single block of text
>>>text text	Indent multiple blocks of text
`text`	Format single line of inline code
```text text```	Format multiple lines of inline code
1. 2.	Format as numbered list
text OR • text	Format as bulleted list
Search Modifiers Add modifiers before or after search keyword(s).
in:[channel]	Search specific channel
in:[@username]	Search specific DM
from:username	Search messages/files shared by specific user
from:me	Search messages/files sent by you
⁷on:[date]	Search using specific date
⁸before:[date] OR ⁸after:[date] OR ⁸during:[date]	Search using specific date or time frame
has:[:emoji:]	Search for items with specific emoji
has:pin	Search for pinned items
has:star	Search for starred items
has:link	Search for items with links
Slash Commands Type in the message field and hit Enter.
/status	Set or clear your custom status
/away	Toggle your “away” status
⁹/dnd for [Time] OR ⁹/dnd until [Time]	Schedule Do Not Disturb session
/dnd off	Turn off Do Not Disturb
/expand	Expand all inline images and videos in current channel
/collapse	Collapse all inline images and videos in current channel
/feed subscribe [feed address]	Subscribe to RSS feed in current channel
/feed list	List RSS feeds (and their ID numbers) for current channel
/feed remove [ID number]	Unsubscribe current channel from RSS feed
/feed help	Get help with /feed commands
/join [#channel]	Join channel
/leave [#channel] OR /close [#channel] OR /part [#channel]	Leave channel
/leave	Leave current channel
/open [#channel]	Open specific channel
/topic [text]	Set topic for current channel
/invite [@username] [#channel]	Invite member to channel
/remove [@username] OR /kick [@username]	Remove member from current channel
/mute [#channel]	Mute/unmute specific channel
/mute	Mute/unmute current channel OR ¹Unfollow current thread
/star	Star current channel or DM
/rename [new-name]	Rename current channel
/archive	Archive current channel
/who	List members (up to 100) in current channel
/msg [#channel] [message]	Send message to any channel
/msg [@username] [message] OR /dm [@username] [message]	Send DM
/me [text]	Display italicized text
/remind @me or [@username] or [#channel] to [What] [When]	Set a reminder
/remind list	View list of upcoming, past, or incomplete reminders
/remind help	Get help with /remind commands
/search [keyword(s)]	Search messages and files
/shortcuts	Open Keyboard Shortcuts pane
/apps [app]	Search for app in Slack directory
/feedback [text]	Send feedback or help request to Slack
/shrug [message]	Add ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ to end of message
¹⁰/giphy [keyword(s)]	Share a random GIF
¹Works only in desktop app. ²Works only if you have enabled All Unreads view under Preferences > Sidebar. ³Includes starred channels and DMs. ⁴Press Ctrl + Alt or hover over workspace logo in sidebar to see number assigned to workspace. ⁵Use Ctrl + Alt + click on Linux. ⁶Ensure cursor is in empty message field. ⁷Use MM/DD/YY(YY) or MM-DD-YY(YY) format for date. ⁸Replace [date] with specific date or with keyword like today, yesterday, [day], [month], or [year] ⁹Use time descriptors like “for 20 mins”, “until 4pm”, until tonight”, etc. ¹⁰Requires integration with Giphy app.

Take Control of Your Slack Workspace

Slack not only saves you from the clutches of email at work, but also makes your online office feel more like an offline one, complete with water-cooler chats. Once you master Slack and learn how to navigate it faster, your days at the office will be a lot more fun!

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