Slack for Linux (beta) – release notes

Slack 4.17.0

16 June 2021

What’s new

  • Bigger is better, or rather, closer is clearer. We now support additional zoom levels up to 200% to reduce the strain on your precious peepers.

Security guidance

  • This release includes security improvements. Updating is recommended.

Slack 4.16.0

11 May 2021

Bug fixes

  • Images and notifications were sometimes sharing real estate...inelegantly. We have given them both a talking-to, and they have agreed to joint custody of that section of the screen.

Security guidance

  • This release includes security improvements. Updating is recommended.

Slack 4.15.0

23 April 2021

Security guidance

  • This release includes minor security improvements. Updating is beneficial.

Slack 4.14.0

17 March 2021

Bug fixes

  • We improved the restart experience when you’ve gone offline or are having loading issues.
  • We all have to sign out sometimes. If you sign out of all of your workspaces, you should have an easier time signing back in.

Security guidance

  • This release includes minor security improvements. Updating is beneficial.

Slack 4.13.0

17 February 2021

Bug fixes

  • When you move or resize Slack, we assume that you are indeed trying to move or resize it – and so the crash that was regularly happening, instead, was unwelcome. We’ve fixed this. Here’s to properly-sized screens!
  • We’ve fixed several accessibility issues. Making Slack more accessible is a continuous journey, and we’re quite grateful that you’re along for the ride!

Slack 4.12.2

8 January 2021

Bug fixes

  • We tweaked some things too small to notice or too difficult to explain. We’ll return you to your regular, more interesting types of release next time (we hope).

Slack 4.12.1

7 January 2021

Bug fixes

  • We’ve tuned the engine and given the interior a thorough clean. Everything is now running smoothly again.

Slack 4.12.0

14 December 2020

What’s new

  • È pronto! Italian language support has landed!

Bug fixes

  • As a dancer gracefully recovers from a minor tumble, so shall our app gracefully reload whilst throttled by network failures.

Slack 4.11.3

25 November 2020

Bug fixes

  • We’ve tinkered with the internal workings and polished some rough edges. The app is now better than it was.

Slack 4.11.1

11 November 2020

Bug fixes

  • We tweaked some things too small to notice or too difficult to explain. We’ll return you to your regular, more interesting types of release next time (we hope).

Slack 4.11.0

9 November 2020

Bug fixes

  • We’ve tuned the engine and given the interior a thorough clean. Everything is now running smoothly again.

Slack 4.10.3

15 October 2020

Bug fixes

  • We’ve tinkered with the internal workings and polished some rough edges. The app is now better than it was.

Slack 4.10.0

8 October 2020

Bug fixes

  • We fixed some issues that caused window resizing of Slack to be difficult. We never want to be difficult.
  • Quickly switching workspaces caused problems. Switching workspaces should only cause opportunities, so we fixed that.
  • There were a few little bugs that caused crashes, like bugs do. We fixed those, and we’ll fix the next ones too.

Slack 4.9.1

17 September 2020

Bug fixes

  • We’ve tuned the engine and given the interior a thorough clean. Everything is now running smoothly again.

Slack 4.8.0

20 July 2020

Bug fixes

  • In rare cases, Slack would simply fail to start altogether. While we’re sure we could all use a coffee break, we know you could also use an application that runs. So we fixed that.
  • We made the screen you see when you have connection problems more useful. We also spruced it up a bit with a fresh coat of paint.
  • Our notifications system sprung a leak, so we brought it in for a tune-up. Everything should be running smoother now.

Slack 4.7.0

3 July 2020

What’s new

  • A preference that allows you to choose a unique save location per download, instead of choosing a folder for all of them. For the choosy types.
  • We’ve upgraded all the backend stuff that the apps run on, resulting in better performance and fewer bugs.
  • Our spell checker has been swapped out for a newer model that’s faster, leaner, and capable of fixing your typos in… wait, can this be right? “Multiple languages at the same time”! Open the “Language & Region” preferences to choose your languages. And for whoever it is out there requires that functionality: our hats are off to you. We can barely type in one language right now.

Bug fixes

  • After restoring the app window, some parts of it could lose their clickiness. Those parts have found their clickiness anew. Click away. Clickety clickety click.
  • If you found yourself, in some distant past, trying to start a song on Spotify with your keyboard’s play button, and it did not respond to your command while Slack was front and center, pesky hardware media keys were the problem. And this version is the cure.
  • The app should be less spicy to your CPU when you’re viewing certain network error pages.
  • When a download completes, we’ll show an in-app prompt rather than a bothersome system notification.

Slack 4.4.3

18 May 2020

Bug fixes

  • We’ve tinkered with the internal workings and polished some rough edges. The app is now better than it was.

Slack 4.4.2

31 March 2020

Bug fixes

  • We're always working on performance improvements – and this release repairs a previously broken performance diagnostic tool. You won't notice the difference, but we'll have an easier time improving Slack.

Slack 4.4.0

4 February 2020

Bug fixes

  • Fixed: If you zoomed right in or zoomed right out and then opened the About Slack window, the About Slack window would also be zoomed right in/out.

Slack 4.3.2

30 January 2020

What’s new

  • We've tinkered with the internal workings and polished some rough edges. The app is now better than it was.

Bug fixes

  • Slack would sometimes crash when the user right-clicked to see the context menu. In context, that was unhelpful. So it no longer does that.
  • When maximized, the app had developed a bit of a distracting flicker. That flicker is now part of Slack history.
  • Occasionally, a restart would result in connectivity issues for Slack… now you should be back online and back to work lickety-split.

Slack 4.2.0

5 December 2019

What’s new

  • Our newest, fastest, best-performing, shiniest, most nutritious and delicious version of Slack is now fully rolled out, so that’s the one you’re now using!
  • Like zooming in and out? Use a number pad? Great news! You can now do these things, on that.

Bug fixes

  • Notifications looked weird if your workspace name was long. Now, no matter what your team name is, notifications look lovely.
  • Some messages were being marked as read when Slack was hidden behind applications, or not visible on screen. Now we won’t mark it as read until you’ve actually seen it. Which seems fair.
  • In Linux, some components of the app were displaying menus when menus were not required. These items are now officially off menu. Or rather, the menu is now officially off them.
  • By popular demand (and because it was a bug), the --silent option is now available for muting terminal output. 

Slack 4.1.2

18 October 2019

Bug fixes

  • Receiving a gif in a notification could mess with your notifications.
  • Long workspace names now no longer appear as incredibly long in menus.
  • Slack menus should now be showing up in the right language (meaning the one that is right for you).
  • Spellchecker stopped working for a small number of users, leading to a shorp increase in avoidabull erraz. With spellcheck now fully back online for those users, any remaining typos are officially not our fault.
  • Restarting when clearing cache now works again.

Slack 4.1.1

8 October 2019

What’s new

  • Thanks to a few tweaks to the engine, a polish of the pistons, and recalibrated valves, the app should be running smoother and faster, than before.
  • Spellcheck, revamped, is now a much better version of its old self (and back on Linux, to boot) — now it supports Greek, Portuguese and British English. So now spelling correctly should come more naturally to us all (which is good, because “correctly” can be a difacult word to spell).

Bug fixes

  • For a quicker connection, and less frustration, checking for network connectivity is more reliable than it was before.
  • After uploading a video into Slack some found it would give an infinite circle of loading, but not play, which was never our plan. Now: it works! It plays; no more circle! Because, it turned out, all circ and no play made Slack a null ‘ploy.

Slack 4.0.2

7 August 2019

Bug fixes

  • Videos in channels were found to be the cause of a minor (but annoying) memory leak that has now been well and truly plugged.
  • We’ve spruced up the notifications a little so now they’ll not only appear every time you need them to, they’ll also appear in whatever theme you’ve proudly decked your sidebar out in. Not too shabby.
  • When opening your computer, the app is now, thankfully, more likely to launch properly every time.
  • If opening Slack from a shortcut on your desktop or menu had become a thing of habit, you’ll know that we broke it recently. We’re really sorry. It works again now.

Slack 4.0.1

25 July 2019

Bug fixes

  • We’ve tinkered with the internal workings and polished some rough edges. The app is now better than it was.

Slack 4.0.0

8 July 2019

What’s new

  • Slack is now a little faster, thanks to a few small but important changes.

Bug fixes

  • Dragging and dropping files into Slack is now much more stable.
  • If you ever do need to reset the app’s data, this now works better. A bit better, at least.
  • We’ve improved the alignment of team icons in the sidebar for people in lots of workspaces. It’s a small thing, but much more aesthetically pleasing.
  • In a Cinnamon desktop environment, the Snap Slack app was missing a dock icon. We’ve found it and put it back where it belongs. (In the dock.)
  • Hardware acceleration can now be turned off without foregrounding Slack. If you know what that means, then you know it’s handy. If you don’t – it still is! Best to carry on reading.

Slack 3.4.2

23 May 2019

What’s new

  • Just as day follows night and winter gives way to spring, so have we updated Electron to 4.2.1.

Bug fixes

  • The push notification time between desktop and mobile has been changed for the better.
  • Like stability? Us too. So we’ve fiddled about with things and now everything is more stable in our app.
  • We’ve updated the RPM icon dependency for better a availability and icon experience. Because you’re worth it.

Slack 3.4.0

18 April 2019

Bug fixes

  • Launch (and hide) on login have been improved and are now just… better.
  • Pressing “Control+Shift+V” would cause copied text to paste twice. We’ve fixed that.
  • Pressing “Control+Shift+V” would cause copied text to paste twice. We’ve fixed that. In Slack.
  • Some teams were experiencing an issue where icons that belonged to other signed-in teams were appearing rather than their own. This was very confusing. Sorry about that.
  • Unhelpful keyboard and cursor actions that some people were experiencing have now, thankfully, been fixed.

Slack 3.3.8

12 March 2019

What’s new

  • When you sign in, you’ll now do it via your browser rather than in the app.

Bug fixes

  • The new loading animation was a little stretched, or a little squished, depending on how you looked at it. It’s practically perfect now.
  • Occasionally, the “Open the Slack app” browser button would not open the workspace in the desktop app. Silly, really. It does now.
  • If you use SSO (single sign-on) to log in, it should now work perfectly every time.