VIDEO: Slack Review: Pros, Cons, and Top Features

Slack is a social collaboration software platform that aims to replace email with instant messaging. If you're in the market for a social collaboration tool, you'll want to consider Slack. But if you're just starting your search, we can help. Use our product selection tool at technologyadvice.com to get a free list of social collaboration software recommendations. Click the link in the description below to get started. Slack is a social collaboration tool that helps colleagues communicate through instant messaging and audio and video calls.

You can organize conversations in Slack by creating different channels. And the platform also supports private messaging for one-on-one conversations. Slack works for companies of all sizes in all industries, and the system is available in three paid plans in addition to a free forever plan. You can test Slack out through a free trial. Slack comes packed with features. Instant messaging is the core feature of Slack that makes everything else work.

You can message people privately or in groups, and you'll get a notification whenever you receive a message depending on your notification preferences. Slack messaging comes with smart attributes like @mentions. Putting an @ symbol before someone's username in a message lets you address them directly when you're in a large group of people, or you can use shortcuts like @here to notify every person in a group. Threads are another great attribute of messages that let you directly reply to a message sent within a group to create compartmentalized discussions, much like the way posts and replies work in a forum.

Finally, Slack messages also let you upload and send files, react to messages with emojis, share links with link previews, and of course send GIFs that animate within the chat space. Another core feature of Slack is channels. Channels let you organize conversations into different groups, which you can name and provide a description. These can be open to the entire workspace or private, and you can set permissions in channels so that only certain people can post.

This is good for company-wide channels where admins post important updates. Anyone can create a new channel from the left-hand sidebar, where you'll be prompted to give the channel a name, set a topic or description, and invite members. If your organization has a lot of channels, users can categorize the channels they belong to in folders to keep the interface tidy. Users can join channels by creating a new channel, getting invited by another user, or by using the search bar at the top of the UI to find public channels to join.

Most people know Slack for the ability it gives users to send instant messages with other people from your company. But, Slack also offers a feature called Connect for instant messaging with people from outside of your company. This is helpful for communicating quickly with clients and partner organizations, and it comes with all the same capabilities you get with regular Slack channels. Connect lets you add external users who can only see the channel you add them to.

External users can't see any of the other channels in your organization, so your conversations remain private. The Workflow Builder feature in Slack lets you send custom forms, messages, and updates using action-based triggers. You can build a new workflow in just a few minutes using a simple interface to choose a trigger, assign to a channel, and designate an action. For example, you can set up a workflow that will automatically send a welcome message to new members of a channel.

It can be easy to lose track of everything Slack can do, so slash commands can be really useful. Slash commands are shortcuts for different actions in Slack, and they're organized by commands built by Slack, commands built by third-party applications, and custom commands. Begin by typing a forward slash into the message box, and you can choose from a list of actions that appear in a drop-down menu. If you already know the command you want to perform, you can type out the name of the command.

This feature is good for simple things like setting reminders and creating polls, but it's especially useful when used with third-party applications. For example, if you integrate Slack with a workflow management tool like Trello, you can use slash commands to create new cards, add comments to cards, and more. Slack is a top-rated tool, but it still comes with its pros and cons. The most obvious pro of Slack might be ease of use. The system is intuitive and requires minimal training, if any, for new users.

Slack is also reliable, and it integrates with hundreds of third-party applications to streamline communications. Slack comes loaded with features, but it still isn't a one-stop option for remote collaboration. Specifically, Slack has a video conferencing feature that works for channel-wide video calls and one-on-one calls. However, only 15 people can join a call at a time, and you aren't able to record video calls. It's a good idea to compare Slack against similar solutions before making a decision.

If you're interested in Slack, you might also consider Microsoft Teams, Flock, Google Hangouts, Workplace from Facebook, and Quill. Still not sure if Slack is right for you? Use our product selection tool at technologyadvice.com to get a free list of social collaboration software recommendations. Click the button on the left to get started.

This transcript was generated automatically from the video's captions and may contain errors.