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Too Many Slack Notifications? 4 Ways to Quiet Things Down

Keeping up with notifications can feel overwhelming at times, so give yourself a break.

Zachary McAuliffe Staff writer
Zach began writing for CNET in November, 2021 after writing for a broadcast news station in his hometown, Cincinnati, for five years. You can usually find him reading and drinking coffee or watching a TV series with his wife and their dog.
Expertise Web hosting, operating systems, applications and software Credentials
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Zachary McAuliffe
3 min read
Slack

Here's how to cut out some of your Slack clutter.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Slack's features help millions of people communicate in hybrid workspaces, but it might feel overwhelming trying to keep up with all the notifications across channels and chats. You probably need to know about an upcoming meeting. A meme from a reality TV show, though? Probably not.

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Thankfully, there are ways to amplify and mute certain channels in Slack so aren't bogged down with unnecessary notifications. Here's how to do both on your desktop and mobile device.

Manage Slack channel and chat notifications from desktop

1. Open and log in to Slack from a web browser or the Slack app.

2. Click into a channel or chat you want to amplify or mute.

3. Click either the channel name or the member names across the top of the window.

4. Click the middle drop-down menu with the bell icon across the top of the new window. The first time you see this menu, it might read Get Notifications for @ Messages or Get Notifications for All Messages depending on your settings.

5. From there you can choose one of the four notifications options:

  • All messages: Notifies you of every new message.  
  • @ mentions: Only notifies you for @mentions, @channel and @here. 
  • Off: You won't receive any notifications.
  • Mute: You won't receive notifications, but you will see the red badge icon if you are mentioned in the channel. This channel will also be moved to the bottom of your channels list. 

6. Once you've made your choice, click the X in the pop-up to close the window, and you are set.

You can also see which channels or chats you've muted or turned notifications off for. Here's how.

1. Open and log in to Slack from a web browser or the Slack app.

2. Click either your profile in the top right corner or the name of your organization in the top right corner.

3. Click Preferences.

4. Scroll down to the bottom of the new window to see all the channels you've customized

5. If you want to receive notifications for any of these channels or chats again, click the X next to the channel or chat to reset it to its default settings. 

Manage Slack channel and chat notifications on mobile

If you use Slack on your mobile device, here's how to manage channel and chat notifications from your device.

1. Open the Slack app on your iPhone or Android device.

2. Tap into a channel or chat.

3. Tap the name of the channel or chat at the top of your screen.

4. Tap Notifications and you can select Every new message, Just @mentions or Nothing.

If you want to Mute a channel or chat, follow the first three steps above and below Notifications, tap Mute Channel.

You can also see which channels and chats you've muted or turned notifications off for on mobile. Here's how.

1. Open the Slack app on your iPhone or Android device.

2. Tap the You option across the bottom of your screen.

3. Tap Notifications.

4. Tap Channel-Specific Notifications.

From here you can adjust the customized settings by tapping the name of the channel or chat.

Manage Slack notifications on mobile

You can also manage which notifications reach your mobile device without affecting your desktop notifications. Here's how.

1. Open the Slack app on your iPhone or Android device.

2. Tap the You option across the bottom of your screen.

3. Tap Notifications.

4. At the top of the screen, under On Mobile, Notify Me About…, choose All new messages, Direct messages, mentions & keywords or Nothing.

You can also choose when to receive notifications on your mobile device by following the first three steps above and tapping Notify Me on Mobile. You can choose to receive notifications Always, even when I'm active, As soon as I'm inactive or After I've been idle on desktop.

For more on Slack, check out the best Slack features, how to schedule Slack messages and how to use Slack's pronunciation feature.

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