Send and Edit Messages

Send messages, files, and replies in a channel or direct message. React to messages, and edit or delete your own, from the message toolbar.

Send a message

Post in the conversation you have open, from its message box.

1. Click the message box at the bottom of the conversation.
   • If you can't post there, the box is replaced by a line saying why. This includes archived channels and closed threads.
2. Type your message.
3. Press Enter to send.
   • Press Shift + Enter for a new line.
   • In a list, Enter adds the next item instead of sending.
   • With the cursor inside a code block, Enter adds a new line.

The box clears. If the send fails, your text returns to the box.

Use a slash command

Type a command at the start of the box to run it on send.

1. Type / at the start of the message box. The list shows the commands available there.
2. Keep typing the command name. The list narrows as you type.
   • Click a command, or press Tab, to pick it. Enter also picks while the name is incomplete. The box then holds the command name, ready for the rest of the message.
3. Type any text the command takes, then press Enter.

• /close closes the thread you are in and sends nothing. It works only in a thread you can close, and it can't be sent with files attached.
• /shrug adds ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ to the end of your message. With no other text, it posts only the shrug.
• A /word that isn't an available command posts as typed.

Format a message

Format text in the box before you send it.

1. Select the text to format.
2. Click a format button, or press its shortcut.
   • Buttons that don't fit the row sit in the More formatting menu.

Each shortcut works with Ctrl or Cmd.

• Bold: Ctrl + B
• Italic: Ctrl + I
• Strikethrough: Ctrl + Shift + X
• Link: Ctrl + K, with text selected.
• Code, Heading, and Bulleted list: no shortcut.

Typing @ lists people and roles. In a conversation with records, typing # lists them. See mentions.

Attach files

Attach files to a message, with or without text.

1. Click Attach files, the paperclip icon.
   • The button is disabled once the message has the maximum number of files.
2. Choose one or more files.
   • To attach by dragging, drop the files onto the message box.
3. Wait until every file finishes uploading.
   • Send stays unavailable until then.
   • If a file reads "Upload failed", click Retry beside it, or click its x icon to remove it.
4. Press Enter, or click Send.

Images show as thumbnails. Other files show as rows with a download icon.

Reply to a message

A reply quotes an earlier message.

1. Hover over the message.
2. Click the reply icon in its toolbar.
   • Or open More actions, then select Reply.
3. Type your reply in the message box.
4. Press Enter.

The reply shows a quote of the original message.

Press Escape, or click the x icon in the Replying to banner, to cancel the reply.

Inside a thread, Reply isn't offered.

React to a message

Reactions show under the message, each with a count.

1. Hover over the message.
2. Click a quick reaction in its toolbar, or click Add reaction and pick one from the picker.
3. To take your reaction back, click it under the message again.

• A message holds a limited number of different reactions, and a new one past that limit is refused.
• Reactions can't be added in an archived conversation.

Edit a message

Edit the text of a message you posted while you can still post in its conversation.

1. Open More actions on your message.
   • Or, in an empty message box with no files attached, press the Up arrow key to edit your last message instead.
2. Select Edit.
3. Change the text in the message box. The box shows an Editing message banner.
4. Press Enter, or click the check icon labeled Save.

The message shows the new text. An edit can't clear the text of a message that has no files. To remove the message, delete it.

Press Escape, or click the x icon in the banner, to cancel. Your draft returns to the box.

Delete a message

Deleting removes a message for everyone in the conversation.

1. Open More actions on the message.
2. Select Delete. It appears on your own messages, and for a channel moderator.
3. In the confirmation, click Delete message.

If the message started a thread, the thread stays, with a placeholder where the message was.

A channel moderator can delete any message in a channel, but not in a direct message. Deleting is refused in an archived conversation.

Limits

• A message can be up to 8,000 characters.
• A message can have up to 10 files.
• Each file can be up to 10 MB. Larger files aren't added.
• HTML and SVG files can't be sent.