Use Slack with a screen reader
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).
Want to learn more? Check out our Accessibility playlist on YouTube for more on screen readers and Slack.
Overview
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 application rather than a web browser if possible.
When exploring Slack, there are a few important concepts to understand:
| 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 sign 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 anchored around a main window, made up of several top-level sections. You can navigate between these sections by pressing F6, and within each section using Tab and the arrow keys. All toolbars in Slack are navigated with the arrow keys.
It’s possible to open separate windows in Slack for specific tasks, such as reading and replying to a conversation or thread, participating in a huddle, and viewing and editing a canvas.
Tip: Mac users can also use ⌘+Ctrl+← / → instead of F6.
Note: If you're using Slack in a browser, press ⌘+F6 / ⌘+Shift+F6 (Mac) or Ctrl+F6 / Ctrl+Shift+F6 (Windows).
Top-level sections
The section names and roles of the main window of Slack are listed here in the order the screen reader will read them out:
| History and Search toolbar | Home to the options for navigating through your browsing history, search, and help. |
| Tablist | Allows you to switch between modes of working in Slack (see the Tablist section below for more). |
|
The workspaces tablist |
Allows you to switch between workspaces that you’re signed in to. The workspace tablist can be hidden or revealed using the ⌘+Shift+S (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+S (Windows) shortcuts. |
| Navigation area | Each tab has a navigation area that you can browse through to open specific conversations, messages or files in the primary view. |
| The primary view | Every tab in Slack has a primary view, where you interact with conversations and reply to messages. In some tabs, you’ll see an empty state in your primary view |
|
The secondary view (if you have it open) |
Secondary views are opened when diving into something in the primary view, such as an individual thread within a channel, or a user profile. |
| Control strip | Home to the user menu and the compose/create new button. When you’re invited to a huddle, you’ll also see the alert banner and huddle mini player here. |
Tablist items
Each page in your tablist will have a slightly different layout, but generally, you can expect to use the Navigation area to open up a conversation in the primary view. Each tab’s unique navigation experience is described further down this page.
| Home |
Ctrl + 1 (Mac) Ctrl+Shift+1 (Windows) |
Browse, organize, and interact with all channels you’re a member of. You can also review all unread messages using the Unreads page. |
| DMs |
Ctrl+2 (Mac) Ctrl+Shift+2 (Windows) |
Review your list of your active direct message (DM) conversations. |
|
Activity |
Ctrl+3 (Mac) Ctrl+Shift+3 (Windows) |
A filterable, chronological feed that includes mentions, replies to threads you’ve participated in, reactions to your messages, invitations to channels, and app notifications. |
|
Later |
Ctrl+4 (Mac) Ctrl+Shift+4 (Windows) |
A place to organize and respond to work you’ve set aside for later. Set reminders and mark tasks as complete. |
| More |
Ctrl+0 (Mac) Ctrl+Shift+0 (Windows) |
A menu for additional browsers in Slack. When the Slack window is resized to be very short or your zoom level is higher than 100%, More acts as an overflow menu for any tabs that no longer visually fit on screen. |
You’ll always find the following browsers in More, even if Slack is in full-screen:
- Automations
- Huddles
- Canvases
- Your organization (channels, people, and files)
- External connections
Navigation tour
To understand how all of this works together, we’ll take you through a brief tour of two tabs: Home and Activity. These tabs represent the different navigation experiences you'll find in the Slack app on desktop.
Home
When you open Slack, the Home tab is open by default.
- To navigate to Home or any other tab, press F6.
- Select Home from the tablist, then press Enter.
The Home tab is where you'll interact with the majority of messages in Slack, and you can do so by selecting channels or the Threads, Unreads and Drafts & sent pages.
The Navigation area for the Home tab consists of a list of all the channels you’re a member of, which can be organized into sections.
- Use the ↑ or ↓ arrow keys to navigate through the list of channels and sections to hear their names, and information such as whether the channel or section has any unread messages.
- Use the ← or → arrow keys when your focus is on a section header to expand or collapse the section.
With your focus on a specific channel or conversation, you can use the context menu to access more information or actions related to that channel.
- To open the context menu for a channel, right-click the channel name in the sidebar.
- With your focus on a channel, press Enter to open the channel in the primary view and interact with the messages there.
- When you open a channel in the primary view, your focus will be placed in the message composer of that channel, where you can send a message or use the ↑ or ↓ arrow keys to read through the conversation.
For more on navigating a conversation, jump to the participate in a conversation section.
Activity
The Activity tab organizes the mentions, thread replies, reactions and notifications that you can reply to.
- To navigate to Activity or any other tab, press F6.
- Select Activity from the tablist, then press Enter to open the tab.
When you open the Activity tab, your focus will land in the Navigation area, which is a filterable list of your notifications in reverse chronological order.
- Use the ↑ or ↓ arrow keys to navigate the list.
- Press Shift + Tab to move to the controls to filter items in the list by activity type or to only show unread notifications.
- When any item is in focus, open the context menu to access actions such as opening the conversation in a new window, or saving it to the Later tab.
- Press Enter to open the in-focus item in the primary view, while keeping the navigation area open so that you can easily address the next item in the Activity tab.
Useful keyboard navigation
Open previous or next item
- In any tab, use Option+↑/↓ (Mac) or Alt+↑/↓ (Windows) to open the previous or next item in the navigation area.
- In the Home, DMs, or Activity tabs, press Option+Shift+↑/↓ (Mac) or Alt+Shift+↑/↓ (Windows) to open the previous or next unread item in the navigation area.
Summarize activity from all workspaces
To get a summary of notifications from each workspace you’re signed into, press ⌘+Option+S (Mac) or Ctrl+Alt+S (Windows) on your keyboard. The summary will read out a count of notifications and unread messages, depending on where you have unread activity:
-
Unread activity in your active workspace
"[Number of] notifications and [number of] unread messages in [name of active workspace]." -
Unread activity in your active workspace and other signed-in workspaces
"[Number of] notifications and [number of] unread messages in [name of active workspace], and [list of other signed in workspaces] have notifications."
Switch between workspaces
You can jump to the workspace menu by pressing ⌘+Shift+S (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+S (Windows), then use ↑ or ↓ to navigate to the workspace of your choice. You can also navigate to the workspace switcher menu using F6 navigation.
Jump to any conversation, tab, or page
The easiest way to open a channel, DM, tab (ex., Home, DMs, etc), or page (ex., Unreads, Threads, Drafts & sent) is with a keyboard shortcut.
- Press ⌘+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux).
- Type the name of a channel, person, or page.
- Press Enter.
This shortcut can be used from any tab in Slack. Channels will always open in Home, and direct message conversations will open in either the Home or the DMs tab.
Tip: You can use the Alt/Option+↓, Alt/Option+↑, shortcuts to navigate to the previous or next conversation in your sidebar.
Participate in a conversation
Read a conversation
Mac
Windows/Linux
- Upon navigating to a conversation, your focus will land in the message composer. Press ↑ to move into the message list. Your focus will land on the most recent message in the conversation.
- To jump to the first unread message, press ⌘+J.
- Once inside the message list, press ↑ and ↓ to navigate between individual messages. A summary of a message will be read when it's in focus. If you're using VoiceOver, you can navigate within messages as well.
Tip: You can replay up to 10 messages in chronological order from oldest to newest. From any conversation, press ⌘+Option and any number 0 to 9 (pressing 0 will play the last 10 messages).
- Upon navigating to a conversation, your focus will land in the message composer. This will also toggle the virtual cursor off.
- Press ↑ to move into the message list. Your focus will land on the most recent message in the conversation.
- To jump to the first unread message, press Ctrl+J.
- Once inside the message list, press ↑ and ↓ to navigate between individual messages. A summary of a message will be read when it's in focus.
- To read message content using the virtual cursor, press Tab. Focus will move to the name of the person who sent the message.
- To resume reading or navigating between messages, press Shift+Tab until focus moves back to the message inside the list, which should exit browse mode. Then, press ↑ and ↓ again.
Tip: You can replay up to 10 messages in chronological order from oldest to newest. From any conversation, press Alt and any number 0 to 9 (pressing 0 will play the last 10 messages).
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 the Unreads page.
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.
- To access these, move focus to the message of your choice.
- Press Tab+M (on Mac with full keyboard access enabled) or the Menu key (Windows) to open the Message Actions menu.
- You can also press Tab while focused on the message of your choice to access these and more message actions.
Respond to a conversation
- To write a message in a channel or DM on Mac, start typing. Slack will automatically move focus to the message field. On Windows or Linux, press F6 to move focus to the message field, then begin typing.
- (Optional) Press Tab to access the composer primary actions toolbar, from which you can add attachments, record video and audio clips, or insert custom emojis.
- Press Enter to send your message.
Tip: You can take a number of actions in Slack with shortcuts.
You can also send a message to any person or conversation directly using the Compose/Create new button:
- Press ⌘+N (Mac) or Ctrl+N (Windows/Linux).
- Focus will move to the To: field. Type the name of a channel or person to select a conversation for your message.
- Press Enter. The primary view will switch to the selected conversation and focus will move to the message field.
- Type your message, then press Enter to send it.
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 will always open in the secondary view.
- Within a conversation, navigate to the message you’d like to start or reply to a thread from.
- Press → or T to open the thread in the secondary view. The focus will move to the secondary view, landing on the same message. If there are any existing thread replies, press ↓ to read them in chronological order.
- To start or reply to a thread, press End. The focus will move to the message field in the secondary view.
Tip: Press ← to move focus back to the original message that thread replies have been added to.
Preferences
Manage screen reader preferences
To customize your screen reader experience, you can adjust the following preferences:
- Select a message format to determine the order that information is announced
- Choose to announce incoming messages while inside a conversation
Here's how:
- Press ⌘ + Comma (Mac) or Ctrl+ Comma (Windows/Linux) to open your preferences.
- Press ↓ to navigate to Accessibility then press Enter.
- Press Tab to navigate to the Screen reader preferences section.
- Press Enter to select your preferences.
Manage Mark as Read preferences
Slack offers three options in Preferences for reading messages and marking them as read:
-
Start me where I left off, and mark the channel read (default)
Read messages chronologically from oldest to newest. The initial point of focus will be the first unread message in a conversation. If all messages are read, the focus will move to the last message you focused on in the conversation. Press ↓ to read the next message. -
Start me at the newest message, and mark the channel read
Read messages in reverse chronological order. The initial point of focus will be the most recent message in the channel. -
Start me at the newest message, but leave unseen messages unread
Read messages in reverse chronological order. The initial point of focus will be the most recent message in the conversation, but the conversation will remain marked as unread until you’ve read every message.
Note: To choose whether sounds are played when you send or receive messages while inside a conversation, navigate to the Notifications section of your preferences.