With more companies embracing remote work, keeping track of what every employee does is difficult, especially for larger companies with hundreds of workers. It also doesn’t help that individuals are scattered across several countries, continents, and time zones.
Communication tools like Slackare essential for remote teams to stay connected and productive. One of the app’s most helpful features is the ability to set status messages, which can let your colleagues know when you’re available or busy. Whether you’re taking a quick break to recharge, in a meeting, or out of the office for the day, this article shows you how to update your Slack status on your PC ortop-of-the-line 5G phone.
How to set your Slack status on desktop
If you use the Slack web or desktop app, you can set your status by following these steps:
An emoji appears on your profile and beside your name in every conversation. When colleagues open your profile or hover over the emoji, they see your new status.
How to set your Slack status in the mobile app
If you’re on the go and unable to use your PC, you may set your Slack on your phone with these steps:
The emoji appears beside your name in conversations and on the homepage. Your colleagues on mobile can see your full status by tapping your name or avatar on any message.
Why is the Slack status emoji important?
While colleagues won’t see your Slack status until they click on your name and open your profile, the emoji is always beside your name, whether on the homescreen or conversation screen. Hence, it is a quick way of notifying colleagues of your new status.
Slack emojis are even more helpful for companies with preset status options since most persons within the organization will know what each one means. Even if you write a personalized status and choose a random emoji, it still signifies something’s up, prompting teammates to open your profile and check your full status.
Slack statuses will be unseen and hidden if emojis don’t accompany them. So, what happens when you don’t choose an emoji for your status? Well, Slack automatically selects one for you — the speech balloon. This emoji is displayed regardless of whether you set your status on mobile or desktop.
How to create a custom emoji in Slack
Spice up team conversations with custom emojis in Slack!
Automatic Slack status updates
The process of manually changing your Slack status is straightforward. But in a fast-paced corporate setting, updating your status every time something happens can become a hassle. However, with Slack automation, things are less cumbersome.
Built-in Slack status automations
Aside from texts, Slack has other built-in communication tools like calls and huddles. When using any of these tools, your Slack status automatically updates to reflect it. For example, if you’re on a Slack call, your status changes to “On a call.” Similarly, it changes to “In a huddle” when you’re in a Slack huddle. Once you get off, your status immediately switches back.
It’s worth noting that this feature only works if you don’t have a status. If you have one, Slack doesn’t change or override it. you’re able to turn off the setting altogether, from the Audio & video settings, if you don’t want Slack to change your status in the first place.
Third-party Slack status automations
Slack integrates with several third-party apps, allowing companies to synchronize several aspects of their businesses with the communication platform. Some of these Slack integrations can update your status.
For example, Clockwise’s Google Calendar + Slack sync tool updates your status based on your Google Calendar events. Zapier’s automated workflows take things a step further. It integrates with several calendars, to-do lists, and other tools to pull information to update your Slack status.
From coffee break to lunch to availability
Setting your Slack status helps you stay connected with your team and keep everyone on the same page, no matter where they are. While Slack is an excellent tool for remote communication, you won’t be reading or replying to messages all the time. If you need to take a break from the ever-busy groups to get lunch or focus on a work-related task, you might need toturn off Slack notifications.
