Mentions are a direct way to notify people of something that needs their attention in Slack. Learn how to mention people in your messages and how to view the mentions that you receive.

Note: To notify a larger audience, you can mention an entire channel, workspace or user group.

Mention someone in a message

Within the conversation, the mentioned member names will be highlighted in blue.

How people are notified

If you mention someone in a channel...

If the person has already joined the channel, the member will be notified. If the person hasn’t yet joined the channel, here’s what to expect:

• If it’s a public channel, Slackbot will ask you if you’d like to invite the member(s) to join the channel, send them a link to your message or do nothing at all.
• If it’s a private channel, the member won’t be notified and can’t see your message until you invite them to join the channel.

If you mention someone in a direct message...

If the person is part of the direct message conversation, the member will be notified. If the person is not in the direct message, the member won’t be notified.

Note: If you edit a message and add a mention, the person that you’ve mentioned won’t be notified. If they aren't already in the channel, you won’t see a prompt to add them. 

Several matches for a display name

If there are multiple matches for a display name, you’ll see a dotted blue box around the name that you’ve entered. Click on the question mark to select the person that you want to mention in your message.

View your mentions

When someone mentions you in a conversation, your name will be highlighted in yellow to help you spot anything that needs your attention. You can also view a summary of recent mentions of your name, along with any of your keyword notifications, using the steps below.