New Hide Person feature gives you more control over your interactions in Slack

Introducing a new way to limit content and communication from specific people in your Slack workspace

At Slack, we put you in the driver’s seat with options to control your personal Slack experience. From features like saving messages for later to the ability to mute channels, you can customize your productivity platform to stay focused on doing the best work of your life.

Soon we’ll be adding another feature to your toolkit. Guided by user research and customer feedback, we’re rolling out Hide Person, a new capability that lets you limit communication and content from specific individuals in your Slack workspace.

As more people spend their working days in Slack, we’re committed to providing them with the tools they need to stay focused and productive, and to prioritize their wellness in a space that remains pleasant for getting work done.

Stay focused while limiting distractions

Think of Hide Person as a powerful mute button. It doesn’t completely block people, so you can still access hidden messages if you want to or need that information for your work. And it’s one way, meaning the hidden person will continue to see all messages as normal with nothing hidden from their perspective. So if you’re deep in a team project, you won’t jeopardize moving work forward; instead you’ll be able to pause and decide if and when you want to view the message.

Here’s how it works: When you hide messages from someone, their name and profile are hidden, push notifications – including direct messages (DMs), group messages, threads, and @mentions – from them are muted, and their messages are behind a click-through warning. All messages will still be delivered, channels will still be bolded, and DMs will display a message counter to ensure that you don’t miss a thing. If you’re feeling ready and comfortable, you can choose to view hidden messages by clicking “show anyway,” and after you’ve viewed them, you can hide them again by clicking “hide message.” The person will never be notified you’ve hidden them. Just like all your other personal settings, workspace owners and admins won’t be able to see whether you’ve hidden anyone. And, if you change your mind, you can easily unhide that person at any time.

At work, sometimes you just need a quiet place to focus. Say you have a coworker who’s working on a project that may be personally difficult for you to hear about, or you’ve received unwelcome messages from a particular coworker in the past. Maybe you have a colleague who is reporting from a natural disaster and sharing messages that may be distressing. Or a teammate is updating your company’s Terms of Use and identifying prohibited content, which may involve uncomfortable conversations. In a physical space, you can take a step away – go to a conference room, pop outside or put on headphones – so that you can stay focused. But in a digital space, setting boundaries can be more challenging. Hide Person gives you more choice and control to better avoid unwelcome content, without losing access to the information you need to do your work.

Fostering a positive work environment

Research shows that a positive experience for teams can cultivate a strong company culture and help you achieve your business goals. In fact, according to our new State of Work report, 82% of employees say that feeling happy and engaged at work would improve their productivity. Other research suggests that employees who feel supported and valued by their employers in regard to mental health report higher job satisfaction and lower rates of absenteeism. The bottom line is fostering a healthy, positive workplace experience is a win-win for companies and their teams.

Our mission has always been to make people’s working life simpler, more pleasant and more productive. This new capability is the latest step in achieving that mission with a focus on trust and product integrity while providing our users with tools that support their preferences (and wellness).

Hide Person will begin rolling out soon and will be available to all Slack users in the coming months, with the option to disable on our Grid plan.