Slack Features Overview
1. Productivity and Collaboration
● Unlimited message and file history: Allows searching and viewing all public messages
and files, which are stored indefinitely on a paid plan2. This helps find context from past
decisions and onboard new team members faster3.
● Group meetings with AI notes (Huddles): Use huddles in channels for team alignment,
screen sharing, annotation, and live captions4.
● Work with people at other organizations (Slack Connect): Enables fast and simple
collaboration with outside partners, clients, and vendors5.
● Lists: Collaboratively manage projects and organize tasks6.
● Customizable sections: Organize channels and conversations into custom, collapsible
sections in your sidebar to keep projects, teams, and priorities straight7.
● Canvases: Create content including text, files, images, videos, and more8.
● Audio and video clips: Record quick ideas with audio clips or share screens in video
clips without leaving Slack9.
● Search: Find context from past decisions or get new team members up to speed faster
by searching across people, channels, and files10.
● Channels: Create channels for every project, topic, or team to bring order and clarity to
work11.
● Templates: Provides ready-to-use templates with powerful automation built-in,
including the ability to create custom canvas templates12.
2. AI-Powered Work
● AI conversation summaries: Get up to speed in any channel or thread with one click13.
● Huddles notes: Get a comprehensive summary of meetings, complete with a transcript,
key takeaways, and action items14.
● Thread and channel summaries: Catch up on channels and threads in one click15.
● AI assistant apps: Embed third-party agents and modern AI apps to work alongside you
in Slack16.
3. Automation Tools
● Integrations with other apps: Choose from over 2,600 apps in the Slack App Directory,
including Salesforce, Jira, Google Drive, and ChatGPT17.
● Custom workflow steps: Bring unique systems and business logic into a workflow, built
by developers using Slack APIs, and integrate other tools18.
● Workflow Builder: Automate routine tasks and processes directly in Slack with no code
needed19.
● Deploy apps to Slack infrastructure: Developers can deploy custom functions to
Slack's secure, managed infrastructure at no additional cost20.
4. Security
● Access logs: Easily check for unusual or suspicious sign-in activity, including time, date
of sign-in, IP address, and a list of accessed devices21.
● Native device management: Enforce security policies such as blocking jailbroken
devices, file downloads on desktop, and file downloads and message copying on
mobile22.
● Session duration: Choose to have members sign back in whenever they close Slack or
after a certain time period23.
● Two-factor authentication (2FA): Adds an additional layer of security to accounts to
prevent password compromise24.
● Data encryption at rest and in transit: Slack encrypts data by default as part of its
foundational security controls25.
● Single sign-on (SSO): Sign in through an Identity Provider (IDP) of your choice for
additional security and convenience, with up to 12 SSO configurations available (e.g.,
OneLogin, Google, Microsoft Azure, Okta)26.
5. Compliance
● Data retention policies: On the free version, data older than one year is deleted on a
rolling basis. On paid plans, data is kept for the lifetime of your workspace by default
(and can be adjusted)27.
6. Administration
● Workspaces: A virtual office where all channels, direct messages, and tools reside28.
● Admin analytics dashboards: Provides insights into how your organization uses Slack,
allowing easy finding and sorting of information about messages, channels, and
members29.
● Manage channel posting permissions: Adjust who is allowed to post to channels or
use mentions, helping keep large announcement channels distraction-free30.
7. Support
● Access to customer support: Slack provides support to help teams get the most out of
the platform31.
Free vs. Pro Version Comparison 32
Feature Free Version Pro Version
Pricing Free $4.38 USD per
person/month (50% off for
3 months, then $8.75 USD)
33
Message & File History 90-day limit Unlimited 34
Channels ✓ ✓ 35
Search ✓ ✓ 36
Audio & Video Clips ✓ ✓ 37
Slack Connect 1:1 only ✓ 38
Huddles 1:1 only ✓ 39
Canvases - ✓ 40
Lists - ✓ 41
Customizable Sections - ✓ 42
Templates - User-created 43
AI-Powered Work
- Thread & Channel - ✓ 44
Summaries
- Huddles Notes - ✓ 45
- AI Assistant Apps - ✓ 46
Automation Tools
- Integrations with other 10 ✓ (unlimited) 47
apps
- Workflow Builder - ✓ 48
- Custom Workflow Steps - ✓ 49
- Deploy Apps to Slack - ✓ 50
Infra.
Security
- Data Encryption ✓ ✓ 51
- Two-Factor ✓ ✓ 52
Authentication
- Session Duration ✓ ✓ 53
- Native Device ✓ ✓ 54
Management
- Access Logs - ✓ 55
- Single Sign-On (SSO) - OAuth with Google 56
Compliance
- Data Retention Policies Up to 1 year Lifetime (adjustable) 57
Administration
- Workspaces 1 1 58
- Manage Channel Limited to #general only Limited to #general only 59
Permissions
- Admin Analytics - ✓ 60
Dashboards
Support Standard 24/7 support 61
