Slack Connect: Manage channel approval settings and invitation requests

To help you manage Slack Connect for your organization, there are a number of approval settings you can adjust for Slack Connect channels. Keep reading to learn how to manage approval settings, apply approval settings to specific external organizations, and manage invitation requests.

Tip: You can manage Slack Connect at scale and automate invitation approval using Slack Connect APIs.


Manage approval settings for Slack Connect channels

Pro and Business+ plans

Enterprise Grid plan

Workspace Owners can adjust the following approval settings:

  • Who can approve requests and manage Slack Connect channels
  • When approval is required for Slack channels 
  • Where requests are sent for approval
  • When invitations can be automatically accepted. 


Manage approval settings

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Workspace settings.
  3. Click the Permissions tab.
  4. Next to Slack Connect Channels, click Expand.
  5. Select your approval settings. 
  6. Click Save.

Org Owners and Org Admins can adjust the following approval settings: 

  • Who can approve requests and manage Slack Connect channels
  • When approval is required for Slack channels 
  • Where requests are sent for approval
  • When invitations can be automatically accepted


Manage approval settings

  1. From your desktop, click your organization name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings, then click Organization settings.
  3. Click  Slack Connect in the left sidebar, then select Settings.
  4. Select the Channels tab. 
  5. Under Approvals, choose a setting and click Edit.  
  6. Adjust options for invitation approval, then click Save.


Manage approval settings per organization

Pro and Business+ plans

Enterprise Grid plan

Workspace Owners (and anyone else they’ve granted permission to) can apply custom automatic approval and acceptance settings to specific organizations their company works with.

Manage approval settings

  1. From your desktop, hover over   More.
    An image of a cursor over the More icon in the Slack desktop app.
  2. Select  External connections.
  3. Click the  gear icon and select Manage connections to see all the organizations you're working with.
  4. Next to the organization you'd like to set custom approval for, click the
     three dots icon and select Edit approval settings.
  5. Click Custom, then select an option from the menu.
  6. Click Save to confirm.

Manage acceptance settings

  1. From your desktop, hover over   More.
    An image of a cursor over the More icon in the Slack desktop app.
  2. Select  External connections.
  3. Click the  gear icon and select Manage connections to see all the organizations you're working with.
  4. Next to the organization you’d like to set custom approval for, click the
     three dots icon and select Edit acceptance settings.
  5. Click Custom, then select an option from the menu.
  6. Click Save to confirm.

Org Owners and Org Admins (and anyone else they’ve granted permission to) can apply custom approval and acceptance settings to specific organizations their company works with.

Manage approval settings

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Organization settings.
  3. Click  Slack Connect in the left sidebar, then select Connections
  4. Next to the organization you'd like to set custom approval for, click the
     three dots icon and select Invitations.
  5. Select an option, then click Save to confirm. 

Manage acceptance settings

  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Organization settings.
  3. Click  Slack Connect in the left sidebar, then select Connections
  4. Next to the organization you'd like to set custom acceptance for, click the
     three dots icon and select Invitations.
  5. Click Automatic acceptance in the sidebar, then select an option.
  6. Click Save to confirm.


Approve or deny invitation requests

Pro and Business+ plans

Enterprise Grid plan

When approval is required for Slack Connect channels, Workspace Owners (and anyone else they’ve granted permission to) can review an invitation request.
  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage Slack Connect Invitations.
  3. Select the Open requests tab.
  4. Select the   three dots icon next to a channel name to approve or deny the request. To take action in bulk, select up to 25 requests, then select Approve or Deny
When approval is required for Slack Connect channels, Org Owners and Org Admins (and anyone else they’ve granted permission to) can review an invitation request.
  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage Slack Connect Invitations.
  3. Click Invitations in the left column.
  4. Select the Open requests tab.
  5. Select the  three dots icon next to a channel name to approve or deny the request. To take action in bulk, select up to 25 requests, then select Approve or Deny


Revoke pending invitation requests

Pro and Business+ plans

Enterprise Grid plan

Workspace Owners (and anyone else they’ve granted permission to) can revoke a Slack Connect invitation sent by a member of their workspace that hasn't been accepted yet. 
  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage Slack Connect invitations.
  3. Select the Sent invitations tab.
  4. Click the   three dots icon next to a channel name and select Revoke invitation. To take action in bulk, click Revoke all invitations or select up to 25 requests, then click Revoke selected invitations
Org Owners and Org Admins (and anyone else they’ve granted permission to) can revoke a Slack Connect invitation sent by a member of their organization that hasn't been accepted yet.
  1. From your desktop, click your workspace name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings from the menu, then click Manage Slack Connect Invitations.
  3. Click Invitations in the left column.
  4. Select the Sent invitations tab.
  5. Click the   three dots icon next to a channel name and select Revoke invitation. To take action in bulk, click Revoke all invitations or select up to 25 requests, then click Revoke selected invitations


Enable Slack Connect for specific workspaces

On Enterprise Grid, you can choose to allow Slack Connect channels in specific workspaces only.

  1. From your desktop, click your organization name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings, then click Organization settings.
  3. Click  Slack Connect in the left sidebar, then select Settings.
  4. Select the Channels tab.  
  5. Next to Workspaces with Slack Connect channels, click Edit.
  6. Select an option, then click Save.


Automate invitation approval

On Enterprise Grid, you can automate the approval of Slack Connect channel invitations using a set of Slack Connect APIs. Automation rules can be applied before Slack Connect invitations are sent, allowing you to prevent invitations that violate your organizations invitation guidelines and manage invitations at scale.

Note: You can only set up automation rules for invitations your members send for channels owned by your organization. 

Enable invitation approval automation

Once you've set up your automation rules using the Slack API, you can enable the automation in Slack: 

  1. From your desktop, click your organization name in the sidebar.
  2. Select Tools & settings, then click Organization settings.
  3. Click  Slack Connect in the left sidebar, then select Settings.
  4. Select the Channels tab. 
  5. Next to Apply automation rules before channel invitations are sent, click Edit.
  6. Check the box next to Enable, then click Save setting.
Who can use this feature?
  • Workspace Owners (Pro and Business+) and Org Owners and Org Admins (Enterprise Grid) can manage approval settings and decide who can approve invitation requests
  • Available on paid plans