I begin my day, by asking every team member what project they are working on. And as of now, I had to manually type this every day to each team member. Similarly, if you have teammates that work across different time zones, scheduling Slack messages comes in handy. So, I finally decided to schedule Slack messages and there are few options I found out. Also Read: 22 Slack Slash Commands for Power Users
Schedule Slack Messages
1. Use the Native Schedule option
Yes, you heard it right, Slack has finally added a long-requested feature – scheduled messages feature in the desktop and mobile app. Users can now Schedule messages on custom date and time – for up to 120 days in advanced. To use Schedule message feature on desktop, open the Slack channel or chat window of the person you would like to text and type the message. Only after you type the message, you will notice a new downward arrow icon next to the “Send” button. Click on the downward arrow and a new popup will appear giving you a couple of default options, but you can also select a custom date and time to send the message. The steps for using Schedule message feature on Android or iOS are pretty much the same. Open the Slack mobile app, and go to the chat or channel and type your message. Once done, long-press on the paper plane icon or the ‘Send‘ button on the app and you will see the message scheduling UI pops up. Similar to desktop, you can then choose your preferred date and time. What if you change your mind? Slack allows users to make changes to Schedule messages. To be precise, you get five options — Edit Message, Reschedule message, Send Message, Cancel schedule, and Delete message. To access all the scheduled messages, you can either click on the “See all scheduled messages” within the chat window or go to the “Scheduled” section from the sidebar. Where it fell short? You don’t get advanced features with the native schedule option. For example, there is no option to set up daily recurring reminders. You can also not trigger a schedule message with third-party apps or services. Well, that’s where our other workaround comes in.
2. Timy
Timy is a new online service that lets you schedule slack messages to channels and direct messages. The only downside is, Timy can schedule messages up to twenty-four hours, not more than that. To get started, add Timy to your Slack. Next, open the Slack channel or chat window of the person you would like to schedule the message for. Once done, you have to use /send followed by the message and time. /send what are we working on Today in 1h30m /send Happy Birthday! at 12 pm And not just that, it also packs some other useful features. For example, to see the list of all the messages that have not yet been delivered type /list all command. If a message hasn’t already been delivered, you will be able to cancel it. You can also send self-destructing messages using /delete command. For example: /delete Feed me, Somebody! at 2 pm Where it fell short? As the name suggests, it’s mostly a reminder rather than a scheduled message. There is no option to set up daily recurring reminders. Also, you can’t schedule messages for more than twenty-four hours. Again, this isn’t what I was looking for, so I continued my search.
3. IFTTT
The problem with both the above methods is that you can’t automate this every day. Even though you can schedule for a few hours in advance, you still have to type those commands manually. Thankfully, you can send recurring reminders on Slack with a good old IFTTT recipe. It can send a personal message as well (not via SlackBot). The only downside is that the message is sent from IFTTT account (shows the name and display picture of IFTTT) so your coworker can tell, the message comes from the bot and not in person. To get started, log in or create an IFTTT account if you haven’t already one, then add this applet. Connect it with your Slack account and next you need to specify — the message, what day and time you want it to go through, and then save changes. That’s pretty much it. In our testing, the IFTTT applet is reliable, but it does have some issues. Where it fell short? To begin with, it shows IFTTT in the display picture and name. IFTTT also takes some extensive permission while installing itself. So, if you are concerned about your privacy, this might not be an ideal route for you.
4. Message Scheduler
While all of these options are good, it doesn’t change the fact that the messages are being scheduled by a robot and don’t feel personal. Slack actually updated their API to include the ability to schedule messages natively, and Message Scheduler is the first app to utilize this. As the name suggests, this simple app schedules your messages on Slack and sends the text automatically from your account. To get started, go to Slack and open your workspace. Add Message Scheduler to your Slack Workspace. Select a thread where you want to send the text, enter the slash command, type the content, and hit enter. /schedule [message] in [time] It lets you schedule a message from anywhere between 30 seconds and 120 days. You can use the following slash commands to perform various tasks. You can see what messages are in the pipeline and delete them before those are posted using the app without any effort.
/schedule/schedule delete/schedule list/schedule help
Where it fell short? The only catch is you have to do this for every user separately. That’s where you have to manually open a thread and type all the scheduled messages one by one. Unlike other apps for Slack, this app is not free and you would have to shell out $20/month (30-day free trial). This is both good and bad because, on one hand, you get a lot of great features with a fixed price irrespective of users in your workspace. On the other hand, this price is a little too steep for budding organizations that don’t have a huge workforce. Check out Message Scheduler
Closing Words:
So these were few ways to schedule Slack messages. For most people, the native schedule option is sufficient. The closest one to my need is the IFTTT’s Scheduled Slack Messages. The only downside is, it shows IFTTT in the display picture and name instead of showing mine. That said, I would ideally like a fusion of IFTTT and Timy. Let me know if you find an alternate way to achieve that. I’ll see you at the next one. Happy Slacking! Also Read: Best Project Management Tools for Small Businesses
