Overview

You can use a screen reader to navigate conversations, read messages, and access information in your sidebar from the Slack desktop app and Slack in a web browser.

Tip: Slack offers keyboard shortcuts for many common actions you may need to take. To view all keyboard shortcuts, press ⌘+/ (Mac) or Ctrl+/ (Windows/Linux).

Slack behaves more like an application than a webpage. We recommend that:

• NVDA and JAWS users primarily navigate around in Focus / Forms mode instead of Browse mode
• All screen reader users use Slack’s desktop applications rather than using it in a web browser if possible.

The following are important concepts to understand when exploring Slack:

Workspaces	A Slack workspace maps to an organization or a department—think of it as an office building that you need to be invited into. The Slack desktop and mobile apps allow you to log into multiple workspaces at once.
Channels	Channels are like large conference rooms or offices inside the office building, and can be created for any project, topic, or team. Channels can be public, meaning anyone in the workspace can read or join, or private. Channel names always start with a # (pound sign or hashtag).
Direct Messages	Direct messages (also known as DMs) are smaller conversations in Slack that happen outside of channels. DMs work well for one-off conversations that don’t require an entire channel of people to weigh in, like if you wanted to ask a coworker to reschedule a meeting. You can DM a single person, or several people at once.
Conversations	Channels and direct messages are structured similarly in Slack. We refer to them jointly as conversations.
Threads	Threads help you create organized discussions around specific messages within a conversation.
Mentions	Mentions are a direct way to notify people of something that needs their attention in Slack. They start with an @ (at symbol).
Reactions	An emoji reaction can be attached to a message to replace the need for a follow-up message. You can add multiple emoji reactions to a message.

 

Navigating Slack

Slack’s interface is a single window made up of several top-level sections. You can navigate between sections by pressing F6, and within each section using Tab. All toolbars in Slack are navigated with arrow keys.

Note: If you're using Slack in a browser, press Ctrl+F6 / Ctrl+Shift+F6 (Windows) or ⌘+F6 /⌘+Shift+F6 (Mac).

Top-level sections

The section names and roles are, in order:

The Workspaces tablist (if you are logged into multiple workspaces)	Allows you to switch between workspaces that you’re logged in to. If you are only logged into one workspace, this section will not be present.
The Workspace Primary Actions toolbar	Houses options for navigating through your browsing history, as well as search, help, and the user menu.
The Workspace Secondary Actions toolbar	Houses the workspace menu and the compose button.
The Workspace Navigation group	Allows you to navigate between your channels, direct messages, apps and other items in your sidebar.
The primary view	Where you interact with conversations and reply to messages.
The secondary view (if you have it open)	Opens when you interact with a thread, user profile, or in-product help.

As you navigate with F6, initial focus is placed on the most useful place within the section, such as the message field within a conversation. When you navigate within a section, we remember your place and restore focus to it when you move back to it with F6.

Tip: Mac users with a touchbar can also use ⌘+Ctrl+← / → instead of F6.

 

Primary and secondary views

Slack always has a primary view, which contains conversations (like a channel, or an individual DM conversation) or pages (like the Direct Messages inbox, or Saved items).

The secondary view is opened when diving into something within the primary view, such as an individual thread within a channel, or a user profile.

The primary and secondary views are usually composed of the following components:

• One or more toolbars
• An interactive list (most often of messages, channels or members)
• A composer input

 

Navigate to a conversation

The easiest way to open a channel, direct message (DM), or navigation page (ex., Unreads, Threads, Mentions & reactions, and more) in Slack is by using Jump to a Conversation, which can be activated with a keyboard shortcut.

You can also browse your active conversations using the Workspace Navigation section.

Tip: If the list of conversations in your workspace navigation list is long, you can use the Page Up, Page Down, End, and Home keys to navigate more quickly.

Each conversation in this tree has an associated context menu you can use to take actions, like changing notifications, muting, and more.

Note: From the context menu, you can move conversations to the Starred section in the sidebar. If you’re on a paid Slack plan, you can also organize conversations in custom sections.

 

Participate in a conversation

Read a conversation

You can navigate between messages quickly using the following keys:

• Page Up and Page Down to move up and down.
• Home and End to move to the first or most recent message
• Shift+Page Up to move to the first message in the previous day.*
• Shift+Page Down to move to the first message in the next day.*

*These keys can’t be used to navigate between messages in your All unreads views.

 

Message actions

There are a number of useful actions you can take on messages within Slack, including adding emoji reactions, replying in a thread, and copying a link to a message.

 

Respond to a conversation

Tip: You can also take a number of actions in Slack by typing slash commands.

You can also send a message to any person or conversation directly using the Compose button:

 

Start or reply to a thread

Threads are sidebar conversations within a channel or DM, and are useful for keeping conversations organized. Threads can only be one level deep, and always open in the secondary view.

Tip: Press ← to move focus back to the original message that thread replies have been added to.

 

Catching up on activity

Slack offers a few ways to quickly review all new messages of a certain kind. Reviewing all of these is the easiest way to make sure you’re totally caught up on all the new activity that’s relevant to you within a workspace.

These views can be reached in 3 ways: through a dedicated keyboard shortcut, by typing the name of the view in the Quick Switcher, or from the top of the workspace navigation list (some may be hidden within the More menu).

 

Direct Messages

The Direct Messages view lets you browse all of your individual and group conversations that happen outside of channels.

Mentions and reactions

The Mentions & reactions view lets you catch up on all reactions to your messages, mentions of you, and uses of any keywords you are monitoring.

Threads

The Threads view lets you catch up on all the threads you have participated in, across both direct messages and channels.

Unreads

The Unreads view lets you catch up on all the channel messages you missed while you were away, grouped by conversations. It does not include direct messages or messages that are in a thread, which can be reviewed in the other views above.

Tip: To collapse a group of messages without marking them as read, press ← when focus is on the group header.

 

Manage screen reader preferences

To customize your screen reader experience, you can adjust a few preferences:

• Select a message format to determine the order that information is announced
• Choose your ARIA application role usage
• Choose to announce incoming messages while inside a DM

Here's how: 

Note: To choose whether sounds are played when you send or receive messages while inside a DM, navigate to the Notifications section of your preferences.