Make Your Team More Productive With This Amazing Tool

Imagine a centralized communication where all your team communications are in one place, An innovation that can make you spend less time in meetings, reduce back and forth email conversation and accomplish more. No need to reinvent the wheel team leader, Slack got you!

Slack is a real time messaging and file sharing application for one-on-one and group conversations.It has a powerful search and archiving feature,so you can discover data effortlessly, do hundreds of integration with applications and services including Dropbox, Asana, Google Drive, Twitter,and the sky is the limit.Slack also makes it so easy to Instantly synchronize  across all devices. And,the best part…..it  is free to use for as long as you want and with an unlimited number of people.

Here is a how to use Slack:

1.Create your team

click this link to get started Slack

2.Set up channels

Channels are one of the most exciting features of Slack. Trendy conversations are organized via channels so that users can rapidly jump into a chat,with relevant team members on a specific topic. It may be a channel for a selected team to discuss a strategy, or post thoughts for lunch.

At the onset, some channels will in all likelihood be established by means of administrators, but certain users can begin a new channel by clicking the '+ ' next to "Channels" at the left-hand navigation bar. If your company has numerous channels, you may star the most essential ones by clicking the star icon on the top left of the screen next to the channel name when you are in that channel. Private channels are available.

To get started, Slack recommends the following types of channels on its website:

    Integration-based channels

    Channels for unique teams

    Channels for certain topics

    undertaking channels

    Channels primarily based on region

3.Super Search Feature

Exceptional search is what makes slack super. Slack let users search via titles, as well as shared documents and metadata. Search results can be filtered according to their relevancy, how recently they occurred, or by what file type you may be looking for.

But, the secret to effective search in slack is using modifiers. Just like what you will find in Gmail's search, those modifiers in addition further filters search results to get you answers more fast. The following modifiers are available for search.

• From - When you're looking for content from a specific team member
• To - For something sent to a channel, group, or direct message
• In - For content within a channel, group, or direct message
• After - Something sent after a certain date
• Before - Something sent before a certain date
• On - Sent on a certain date
• During - Something sent during a month or year
• Has - Contains a star or a link

Type the modifier with a colon following it, like "from:" and add what you want to include. 

3.Integrate Your Apps

Users can connect some of the apps and tools they already use in their workflow to Slack through its integration feature. Common apps such as Dropbox, Github, Google Calendar, Jira, and many others. If you have a few programming capabilities you may additionally build your own integrations or customize them to your liking.
For example, you could integrate Twitter to have precise tweets posted to certain channels. This works properly for companies that deal with customer support requests through social media. Additionally, integrating Google offerings like Hangouts allows you to start hangouts without delay from a Slack channel.

4.Integrate Slackbot

Slackbot is the programmable Artificial Intelligence feature within Slack. Users' first experience with Slackbot will be when they are setting up their profile. Slackbot is technically an integration, so you have to initially add it to your account before using it. You can find the integration here.
Once installed, Slackbot can be programmed to respond to certain prompts or to display relevant information when asked. For example, if asked whether or not the office is open a certain day, Slackbot can show the company calendar.

5.Learn the Shortcuts

Within Slack, there are two distinct types of shortcuts you can use — traditional shortcuts and slash commands. Slash commands are actions that the user can perform using the "/" key and a corresponding word. For example, "/archive" will archive the current channel communication or "/prefs" will open the preferences dialog. Certain slash commands are restricted to administrators and users can also create custom slash commands. The full list can be found  here

So there it is folks,the what you need to know about slack. A tool that is upping the ante in company productivity to get your your team up and rolling. i do hope you will find the tool helpful.

Please share comments on your experience with slack.