Today, we use Slack all the time to be notified quickly when something occurs within the organization. But seeing a message in plain text can be boring and may not stick out to the eye. In this article, I will provide you with ways to spice up your Slack Messages so they will stand out for your users.
How to Bold Text in a Slack Message
In order to highlight text to capture a readers' attention within your Slack messages, you may want to bold certain portions of text.
***To bold text in Slack, use *asterisks* around your text to make it bold.***
Here is a test of *Bolding Text in Slack* using an automation.
How to Strikethrough Text in a Slack Message
For text that you want to strike or cross out, use strikethrough.
***To strikethrough text in Slack, use ~tildes~ around your text to strike it out.***
Here is a test of ~Strikethrough Text in Slack~ using an automation.
How to Use Italics in a Slack Message
Use Italics when you want to emphasize a certain word or phrase.
***To make your text italic, use _underscores_ around your text to italicize it.***
Here is a test of _Italic Text in Slack_ using an automation.
How to Format Text Inline in a Slack Message
Posting inline is a good way to post a code block or snippet or to color text, such as making certain words red.
***To format inline code, use `backtick` around your text.***
Here is a test of `Inline Text in Slack` using an automation.
How to Underline, Highlight or Create Small Text in Slack
Unfortunately, it is not possible to format text in Slack messages to underline or highlight. To emphasize text that you're hoping to underline or highlight, we would recommend using bold or italics. Inline is another great way for you to be able to Highlight certain text as well.
How to Send Hyperlinked Text in a Slack Message
When you send a notification to your users, there are times that you want to avoid sending them a boring URL. You can send them a message where they can click on a word so it can direct them straight to a Company.
In your Automation, you will need to format your message with some basic HTML:
<a href="https://app.planhat.com/profile/<<object._id>>"><<object.name>></a>
Based on what object you want to direct your users to, you may need to change the URL and a few of the tags.
https://app.planhat.com/profile/
In this example, a message is sent with a dynamic link to the Company and uses the Name of the company to be displayed:
How to @Mention a Team Member in a Slack Message
In Slack, there are times when we can get lost, due to many messages. A way to highlight a message or call out one specific user is to use the @mention feature. This will make the message pop out for that user so they can acknowledge the message / respond if needed.
Planhat can send Slack messages as well as @mention users IF we have their Slack ID in their user profile.
📣 Pro Tip!
A quick way to get all Slack Ids into the correct profiles is by navigating to the Slack Integration. (Operations Module > Integrate > Slackbot > Sync Users)
Once, all users have their Slack Id tied to their user profile, you are ready to build out a custom automation that will @metion your users.
EX:
You will need to use a Step that Gets a Single User. In the above example. I am passing the company owner's ID. This allows Planhat to query additional data that is specific to the Owner.
You will need to write your message and Depending on which Step you used to GET your user data, you will use the tag similar to:
<@<<Step 1.slackId>>>
But its all dependent on which Step this was added to, your tag could be <@<<Step 3.slackId>>>