Slack

Mobile-Friendly Desktop Friendly Free for UofT students

About

You might know it from your internship or class but the ever popular platform Slack is a great way to bring all your communication together; Slack functions as a single place for messages, tools, and files, so whether you're looking to start an online forum for sharing, want to connect faculty

The Takeaway: Slack essentially runs as an instant messaging platform with the ability to form "channels" around specific topics or teams. If you struggle with never-ending email chains and remembering to CC the right people, it's a user-friendly solution for sharing and storing information. Meetings on Slack, however, are restricted to up to 15 participants, so it is not suitable for hosting large events. Features that makes Slack particularly powerful are bots, which allow easy task automation (like assigning work, sending meeting reminders, and running polls) and third-party app integrations, such as Zoom and Google Drive.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Organized Conversations Channels can be divided up by team, project, client, or whatever else is relevant to your organization. Team members can join and leave channels as needed — unlike lengthy email chains. Threads keep side conversations from derailing the topic or project at hand. Searchable History: Search turns conversations into common knowledge Search everything that’s been posted in channels or your messages. Learn the context of past decisions or see if someone’s already solved the problem at hand. Even if you archive or leave a channel, its contents are searchable for future reference. Your conversations become common institutional knowledge. Face-to-face and -screen Talk it out over voice or video calls directly from Slack. And if you need to show your work, you can share your screen, too. Integrated file sharing Drag-and-drop PDFs, images, videos and other files directly into Slack. Get feedback on your work and create an archive of your progress. Connect your tools with Slack The Slack App Directory has over 2,200 apps (such as Zoom, Google Drive, Dropbox, Github etc.) you can integrate into Slack. Spend less time juggling tabs and more time focusing on meaningful work. Easily change display name, add pronouns to full name or username	Storage amounts vary with payment plans: Free accounts can only view 10,000 of your team's most recent messages All users must have an account before viewing the workspace

Pros

Cons

Organized Conversations

Channels can be divided up by team, project, client, or whatever else is relevant to your organization.
Team members can join and leave channels as needed — unlike lengthy email chains.
Threads keep side conversations from derailing the topic or project at hand.

Searchable History: Search turns conversations into common knowledge

Search everything that’s been posted in channels or your messages. Learn the context of past decisions or see if someone’s already solved the problem at hand.
Even if you archive or leave a channel, its contents are searchable for future reference. Your conversations become common institutional knowledge.

Face-to-face and -screen

Talk it out over voice or video calls directly from Slack. And if you need to show your work, you can share your screen, too. Integrated file sharing
Drag-and-drop PDFs, images, videos and other files directly into Slack. Get feedback on your work and create an archive of your progress.

Connect your tools with Slack

The Slack App Directory has over 2,200 apps (such as Zoom, Google Drive, Dropbox, Github etc.) you can integrate into Slack. Spend less time juggling tabs and more time focusing on meaningful work.

Easily change display name, add pronouns to full name or username

Storage amounts vary with payment plans: Free accounts can only view 10,000 of your team's most recent messages

All users must have an account before viewing the workspace

Pricing

Free	Standard
For small teams trying out Slack for an unlimited period of time - Access to 10,000 of your team’s most recent messages - 10 integrations with other apps like Google Drive, Office 365 and many more - 1:1 voice and video calls between teammates	For small- and medium-sized businesses $6.67 USD/mo* All the benefits of Free, and: - The full context of your organization’s message history at your fingertips - Timely info and actions in one place with unlimited integrations - Face-to-face communication with group voice and video calls of up to 15 teammates - Secure collaboration with outside organizations or guests from within Slack

Free

Standard

For small teams trying out Slack for an unlimited period of time

- Access to 10,000 of your team’s most recent messages

- 10 integrations with other apps like Google Drive, Office 365 and many more

- 1:1 voice and video calls between teammates

For small- and medium-sized businesses

$6.67 USD/mo* All the benefits of Free, and:

- The full context of your organization’s message history at your fingertips

- Timely info and actions in one place with unlimited integrations

- Face-to-face communication with group voice and video calls of up to 15 teammates

- Secure collaboration with outside organizations or guests from within Slack

Accessibility

Slack is subject to U.S. economic sanctions so if you are blocked from creating an account or using Slack, you may be in a country with restricted access. To access Slack from an unsupported country, consider using one of the UofT supported VPNs

Use a screen reader with Slack on desktop

Keyboard accessibility in Slack

Security

Security at Slack

Training Resources

Slack 101

Getting started for new members

Change your display name

Adding Pronouns to My Slack Name