Slack Rolls Out Redesigned Home Window and Activities

Slack has announced a major redesign that will be rolled out to all users in the coming weeks. Slack no longer focuses on being a simple messaging app – instead, Slack wants to become an important, central work tool.

Slack layout simplified and improved

With the launch of the new Slack layout, the entire app is being transformed. This applies to the desktop app as well as to mobile.

There’s a new Home section that’s similar to the previous Slack interface but with new features and a cleaner look. All workspaces come together in one place. Channels, DMs, and apps are displayed there, actually as you are currently familiar with them – only switching between workspaces should now be less complicated, so that every user can better focus on their tasks.

New sidebar

The most important thing about the new Slack is the sidebar on the left, which shows all Slack content. There is a new DMs area, which is now a bit reminiscent of Microsoft Teams – the overview with all conversations is shown on the left, and the active conversation is presented on the right.

Further down the sidebar is a new activity panel that acts like a unified inbox, bringing all messages, mentions, and reactions across all Slack workspaces into one place. Another important part of the redesign is the “Later” area.

In addition to the new views, Slack has improved the save workflow. The Later menu in the sidebar now offers a one-stop shop for anything you want to quickly save in Slack. You can add a reminder and tick it off when you’ve done it. The overarching goal of the new design, explains Noah Weiss (Chief Product Officer of Slack), was to give users more context and focus.

“We see that as a type of work that you have. I catch up on everything that’s going on, I respond to incoming messages, I file and respond to all activity, and then I go through my to-do list which says what I still need to do – that’s what we want to organize, more ways of working than object types”.

Slack will gradually roll out the changes to all users. The distribution has started but will drag on for weeks.