How to use Slackbot
Navigate your workday with help from Slackbot, your personal agent for work. Slackbot has the same context and access to information that you do, so answers are always relevant and personalised. Start a conversation to get answers to your questions, or choose from a variety of helpful prompts to get started even more quickly.
Note: The new version of Slackbot is being rolled out gradually. For more details on release timing and subscription availability, visit A reintroduction to Slackbot.
What to expect
- By default, all members of a workspace or Enterprise organisation with access to Slackbot can use it. If you can’t see Slackbot, you might need to upgrade your subscription or ask an owner or admin if they’ve restricted access to the feature.
- You can ask Slackbot for help with anything – answering questions, finding files, generating content such as meeting agendas and project plans, scheduling meetings and more.
- Slackbot can also interact with other services that you’ve connected to Slack like your Google or Outlook Calendar, Salesforce, as well as enterprise search data sources.
Tip: Slackbot custom responses are now called automated messages, and will be sent by your workspace rather than by Slackbot.
Ask Slackbot anything
Be clear and concise with your requests, but remember that you can always ask follow-up questions or provide different instructions if you need to.
Choose a prompt
Desktop
Mobile
- Click Slackbot at the top of the screen.
- From the Messages tab, pick a prompt – Discover, Create,
Find or Brainstorm. Within each broader category, you’ll see a variety of options to choose from. - Depending on the complexity of your request, it may take Slackbot a minute or two to respond.
- From the Home tab, tap Slackbot at the top of the screen.
- Pick a prompt – Discover, Create, Find or Brainstorm. Within each broader category, you'll see a variety of options to choose from.
- Depending on the complexity of your request, it may take Slackbot a minute or two to respond.
Write your own prompt
Here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing:
- Which direct messages or mentions do I need to follow up on today?
- Create an agenda for my upcoming call with [@name] based on our previous conversations.
- What context do I need to prepare for my meetings today?
When you’re ready, open Slackbot to start chatting.
Desktop
Mobile
- Click Slackbot at the top of the screen. You can also open Slackbot with Cmd Shift O (Mac) or Ctrl Shift O (Windows/Linux).
- Send your message or question.
- As Slackbot works to generate a response, you can see the steps it’s taking (like performing searches, refining results, checking your calendar, etc).
- From the Home tab, tap Slackbot at the top of the screen.
- Send your message or question.
- As Slackbot works to generate a response, you can see the steps it's taking (like performing searches, refining results, checking your calendar, etc).
Tip: Slackbot can schedule meetings for you as long as the attendees you specify have also connected their Google or Outlook Calendar to Slack.
View conversation history
You can always access previous conversations with Slackbot and reopen a thread to pick up a discussion where you left off. Here’s how:
Desktop
Mobile
- Click Slackbot at the top of the screen.
- Click the History tab.
- Select a conversation to reread it or send a follow-up message.
- From the Home tab, tap Slackbot at the top of the screen.
- Tap History in the top right-hand corner.
- Select a conversation to reread it or send a follow-up message.
Manage Slackbot preferences
You can manage your Slackbot preferences to decide whether Slackbot responses show up in your Activity feed and Threads view, and if past Slackbot conversations are available for it to reference when generating responses:
- From your desktop, click your profile picture in the sidebar.
- Select Preferences.
- Select AI.
- Below Slackbot, tick or untick the box next to the preference you'd like to manage.
Who can use this feature?
- All members except guests
- Available on the new versions of the Business+ and Enterprise+ subscriptions
- Available on the legacy Business+, Enterprise Select, and Enterprise Grid subscriptions with the Slack AI add-on