| name | Slack |
| description | Sending messages, navigating channels and DMs, threading, searching, and reacting in the Slack desktop app on Windows. |
| publisher | H Company |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| source_url | https://slack.com/help/articles/201374536 |
| license | Vendor docs |
| icon_url | https://api.iconify.design/logos:slack-icon.svg |
Slack is a three-pane Electron app: workspace switcher on the far left (when multiple workspaces are signed in), channel/DM sidebar next to it (with sections for unreads, threads, DMs, channels, apps), message pane in the middle, and a contextual right pane that opens for threads, profiles, search results, and pins. The composer sits at the bottom of the message pane.
Shortcuts
Jump: Ctrl+K opens the universal switcher — type a channel name (#general), a DM target (@alice), or a query and Enter navigates. This is the single most-used shortcut; prefer it over clicking in the sidebar. Ctrl+Shift+K browses DMs only. Ctrl+Shift+L browses channels.
Navigate: Alt+Left / Alt+Right step back/forward through visited channels. Ctrl+J jumps to the first unread message. Alt+Shift+Down / Alt+Shift+Up move to the next/previous unread channel. Ctrl+Shift+A opens All Unreads. Ctrl+F6 / Ctrl+Shift+F6 move focus between the major sections.
Compose: Esc while in a channel marks it read and clears focus. Click in the composer or hit Tab from the channel to start typing. Ctrl+B/I for bold/italic, Ctrl+Shift+X for strikethrough, Ctrl+Shift+C for inline code, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C for a code block, Ctrl+Shift+9 for blockquote, Ctrl+Shift+8 for bulleted list, Ctrl+Shift+7 for numbered list.
Search and discovery: Ctrl+F searches inside the current channel; workspace-wide search is in the top bar — Ctrl+K then click the magnifier, or click the search box directly.
Reference: Ctrl+/ opens Slack's full shortcut overlay anytime.
Composing
The composer formats with markdown-like syntax (asterisks for bold, backticks for code, > for quote) plus rich formatting via the toolbar at the bottom-left. @ triggers user/group mention autocomplete, # triggers channel autocomplete, : triggers emoji autocomplete. Channel mentions are not just decoration — @channel notifies everyone active, @here notifies everyone online; treat both as Gated and confirm before posting.
Threads: clicking a message's "Reply in thread" opens the right pane. By default thread replies post only in the thread; check "Also send to #channel" if the user wants the reply visible in the main timeline. New top-level posts go to the main channel — never use a thread when the user said "post in #channel" without thread context.
Match the channel's tone. A channel with all-lowercase one-line messages doesn't want a formatted memo back; a status update channel may want structured bullets. When unsure, mirror the most recent few messages in the thread.
Sending
Enter sends; Shift+Enter inserts a newline. Slack's default is Enter-sends, which means the moment a draft exists in the composer, a single keystroke makes it live. This is the central gotcha — never press Enter until the user has confirmed.
Confirmation template before any write. Before sending, editing, deleting, reacting, or pinning, stop and summarize via answer:
To: #channel-name (or @user for DM)
Action: Send / Edit / Delete / React / Pin
Preview: (one-line summary, not the full body if it's already visible in the composer)
Send this?
Wait for explicit go-ahead. The composer holds the draft; the user can edit it directly or ask Holo to revise before the second-pass confirmation.
Reactions, pins, and edits
Hover over a message to reveal the action bar. Reactions post immediately and are visible to the whole channel/thread — reversible (click the reaction again to remove) but everyone saw it. Pinning posts a "pinned this message" system notice in the channel; unpin if it was a mistake but the notice itself stays. Editing your own message shows an "(edited)" badge to readers; deleting removes content but leaves a "This message was deleted" placeholder for ~30 seconds in most workspaces.
Slash commands and special cases
Slash commands run in the composer: /remind, /dm, /poll, /away, etc. They execute on Enter without a preview — confirm before triggering anything mutating (/invite, /leave, /archive).
Slack is Electron, which means right-click on a message works but right-click in the composer text area is a normal text-edit context menu, not a Slack action menu — use hover-then-click for message actions.
URL parsing
Slack message URLs follow https://<workspace>.slack.com/archives/<CHANNEL_ID>/p<TIMESTAMP>, where the timestamp has the dot removed (e.g. p1770725748342899 is 1770725748.342899). To open a thread, the URL adds ?thread_ts=<PARENT_TS>. If a user pastes a Slack link, navigate via Ctrl+K and the channel ID rather than relying on link-click behavior.
Sources
Slack's keyboard shortcuts: https://slack.com/help/articles/201374536 and https://slack.com/help/articles/115003340723. The in-app Ctrl+/ overlay is the most current reference.