Rich's Tongfamily (Richtong.net add-on)

Well, I use Slack a lot particularly for development projects. The integrations really make the difference. That said it is a super quirky application because it sprays settings across the mobile and web application. It’s confusing because they have two completely different technology sets (even in the 2020s!) so that (like Zoom), some settings are only available on the web application in a completely different pane.

Here are some guides to this:

1. Finding your settings at all. It is really unclear from the application either web or mobile how to change your user preferences. That’s because there is no “personal icon” like say Google. Instead, the only way to get it is to click on the Slack group icon, there is a down arrow
2. When you get there, you can change notifications from the really too often Notifications and choose Direct messages, mentions & keywords
3. Then turn on in Your Channel > Preferences > Sidebar > Show… pick Show All Unreads and collect in one place.
4. I also check in the Show section, Unread Conversations plus your Starred section so you only see what you need to read.
5. This is super buried but really useful, if you want to forward email to Slack, then in Preferences > Messages & Media > Bring emails to Slack. This is Waaaaayyyy at the bottom and you can get a forwarding address.
6. In Advanced at the top is, when in “` you Enter does not send a new message, it just adds to it.
7. Finally, they have merged the admin user interface into the same pull down, so if you are an admin you will see all kinds of settings

Now here are the things that you can only do on the web

1. More Settings only on the web. This is bizarrely not available in the mobile client or the desktop, but there is a separate area that isn’t clear. Above the vertical bar are your personal settings which has Preferences in it. Or use Command-, as the Mac standard way. If you are logged in then the standard url https://my.slack.com/account/settings also works for whatever slack you are currently logged into.
2. Turn on 2FA. In Account > Settings > Password > Two-factor authentication
3. This is also where the billing user interface is in the top at Plans

Well that’s what there is to know. It’s not nearly (but pretty close) as confusing as Zoom which forces you to enable things at the admin and the user level, but doesn’t remark them in the interface well (there really should be an entirely new pane for admins!).