If you’re using Slack on the Standard, Plus, or Enterprise Grid plan, you can sort your channels, direct messages (DMs), and apps into custom sections within your sidebar. This allows you to organize your conversations in ways that are tailored to you — whether they’re sorted by projects, teams, or the type of work you’re doing.

What to expect

• Your custom sections are only visible to you and won't affect what your teammates see in their sidebars.
• Custom sections can only be created in Slack from your desktop, but you can view and move conversations in and out of your custom sections from both your desktop and mobile devices.
• If you use Slack Connect to work with people outside your company, you’ll see a dedicated section in your sidebar. New Slack Connect conversations will appear in this section by default, but you can move them to other sections if you’d like.
• In an Enterprise Grid organization, your custom sections will apply to all your workspaces. You’ll only see channels in custom sections if the channels have been added to the workspace where you’re viewing them.

Note: If you’re using the free version of Slack, you won't be able to use custom sections. Instead, read about ways to manage your sidebar preferences, or learn how to upgrade your workspace.

Create custom sections

Organize your conversations

Edit your sidebar

You can move multiple conversations to custom sections at once, allowing you to quickly and easily organize your sidebar.

Move a conversation to a section

Once you’ve created custom sections, you can move individual conversations around.

Remove a conversation from a section

To remove a conversation from a section, use the steps below. The conversation will still be accessible in the Channels or Direct messages section of your sidebar.

Rename or delete custom sections

You can rename a custom section or update the associated emoji at any time. If you no longer need a custom section, you can delete it.

Note: You can’t rename or delete the section dedicated to Slack Connect.

Manage conversation display

Display only unread conversations

You can choose to display all your conversations or only unread conversations within custom sections in your sidebar. You can adjust this preference for each of your custom sections. Adjusting this preference for an individual custom section will override the preferences you’ve set for your entire sidebar.

Sort your conversations

You can adjust your sorting preference to display conversations in your sidebar alphabetically, by recent activity, or by priority, with the conversations you frequent the most listed first. Adjusting this preference for an individual custom section will override the preferences you’ve set for your entire sidebar.

Tip: Click the   or  arrow icons to collapse or expand individual sections. Press Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows/Linux) and click any custom section in your sidebar to collapse or expand all sections at once.