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For a long time, Slack’s massive user base — 65 million monthly active users — okay, maybe not all of them, but certainly many teams, needed a shared space for notes, project updates, and essential resources. That’s where Slack Canvas comes in.
Slack Canvas provides a dedicated space to create, share, and organize key information — all within Slack. No extra tools. No confusion. Just pure productivity.
In this article, you’ll learn:
Ready to begin? Let’s go!
Slack Canvas is a built-in feature that allows teams to create shared documents within Slack. These Canvases are perfect for capturing notes, project plans, task lists, and important resources — all in one easily accessible space.
Unlike traditional Slack messages, Canvas keeps your content organized, editable, and easily accessible within channels or direct messages. That’s right — you can create Slack Canvases in both channels and DMs, ensuring key information stays right where you need it.
Here’s a comparison between a Channel Canvas and a DM Canvas:
There’s also an option of a standalone Canvas that you can create for a specific purpose and later share with others if needed.
Slack Canvas is a powerful tool for organizing and sharing information right within Slack.
Say your team is working on a project, and you need to record all the plans in one place. With Canvases, this is all possible. You can record anything and everything, helping you keep important resources centralized and perhaps even avoid using additional project management tools.
So, how can you make the most of this feature? Let’s explore its capabilities below.
First, you need to create your Canvas. The good news is that the process is super simple. Here are the steps:
That’s it!
You can tweak your Slack canvas to make it work for you or your team. A well-organized Slack Canvas is clear, scannable, and engaging. Use headers to divide content into sections like “Goals,” “Milestones,” and “Tasks.” Apply bullet points for lists, and block quotes to highlight key information. To track tasks, format text as a checklist so your team can check off completed items.
Slack Canvas offers various multimedia options to make your content richer. You can insert audio or video files that play inline, and upload documents or link to another Canvas with a quick-access preview.
The formatting toolbar makes these features easy to use. From the toolbar, you can:
You can literally combine all these formatting tools and multimedia options to create Canvases that are easy to read and useful for your team’s productivity.
📖 Related read: 13 Slack Tips and Best Practices to Hack Productivity
Of course, the easiest way to get started with Canvases is by using templates. When setting up your Canvas, you'll find a variety of ready-to-use templates for different types of activities, whether you're working with your team or on your own.
For example, there are templates for:
The biggest advantage of using templates is that they save time and help you maintain consistency.
To get the most out of Slack Canvas, it helps to follow a few best practices. These tips can ensure your Canvases stay organized, clear, and useful for your team.
Avoid clutter by sticking to essential information. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and clear headings to make content easy to scan.
A Canvas is a living document. Keep it relevant by updating tasks, resources, and notes regularly. Assign team members to review and maintain the Canvas as needed.
Make sure everyone knows they can contribute to the Canvas. Collaborative editing ensures it stays accurate and reflects team input.
Before sharing a Canvas, ensure the right people have access. In channels, everyone can typically view and edit the Canvas, but you can adjust permissions by restricting editing to specific team members. In direct messages (DMs), Canvases are private by default, and accessible only to DM participants.
If you no longer want to use a particular Canvas, make sure to delete it. That way, you can keep your Slack Workspace organized and neat. If you delete Canvases by mistake, don’t worry — you can restore them within the first 24 hours.
Lastly, if you find yourself using Slack Canvases a lot with your customers — whether it’s to document FAQs, coordinate product implementation efforts, or troubleshoot issues — you might want to try Thena.
Thena is a B2B customer support tool that works right inside Slack to make customer support easier and faster.
Here’s how it works: Thena turns customer messages into support tickets automatically. Instead of tracking everything manually, Thena helps you stay organized. It can create summaries, add tags, and even remind you of deadlines, so nothing gets missed.
Using Slack Canvas and Thena together makes a great combo. You can keep notes and plans in Canvas, while Thena handles the support requests. This way, your team can respond quickly and keep customers happy, all without leaving Slack.
Even with Slack Canvas, teams can run into a few challenges. Here’s how to tackle them and keep your workflow smooth:
Slack Canvas lets you create and share documents directly within Slack channels or DMs. You can add text, images, checklists, and links. Team members can view, edit, and collaborate on the Canvas in real-time. It stays pinned to the conversation, making it easy to access and update as your project or discussion evolves.
You can add text, checklists, tables, images, links, videos, and even files. Formatting tools like headings, block quotes, and bullet points help keep content organized.
Yes! You can add workflows to your Slack Canvas to automate tasks and streamline processes. With Slack’s Workflow Builder, you can create custom automations — no coding needed — and embed them directly into your Canvas.
Yes, Slack Canvas is available to all Slack users. If you’re on a free plan, you can create canvases within channels and direct messages. However, only customers on paid plans have the ability to create standalone canvases, which offers a bit more flexibility.
Slack Canvas is the place for your team to collaborate, stay organized, and productive. But why stop there? Pair it with Thena for seamless customer support and take your workflow to the next level.
Together, both tools will help your team stay on top of tasks, customers, and collaboration—all without leaving Slack.
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