Slack has just announced it is introducing a top-requested feature – adding discussion threads to the messaging platform.
Users of Slack will now be able to connect related messages by forming them into threads.
As the company said, discussions on Slack often branch off, as people “ask questions and introduce new topics (or resurface old ones)”, but these conversations often don’t involve everyone in the channel.
The new thread discussion feature will connect related messages, making it easier to manage and follow multiple conversations.
To start a new thread, you simply hover over a message in Slack and click “Start a thread”.
When you do this, the right sidebar opens and you can reply to the message in a thread format.
To see which messages have threads associated with them, Slack will show thumbnails of the people engaged in the discussion, as well as the number of replies in the thread.
In a blog post, Slack explained the feature in more depth, saying: “Unlike a regular message posted in channel, replies to a thread won’t automatically mark the channel as unread or notify you, unless you’re directly mentioned.
“This way, you and a subset of your team can riff on ideas, triage problems, or clarify feedback in a focused space. Although they’re tucked away, threaded conversations are archived and searchable so anyone can access the information and context they need without joining every discussion.”
As with elsewhere on the platform, users of Slack can also @ people in discussion threads.
The new feature is rolling out over the next few days, and will be available with the latest versions of the desktop and mobile apps.
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