Slack: How to Use Our Integration

ProjectManager’s Slack integration allows you to quickly access and edit tasks via Slack on your desktop and mobile device. 

 

Unlike other integrations on the market, you can create new projects from within Slack, transform messages into tasks and more—making this add-on a legitimate project management tool, especially if you manage projects on the go.

 

Slack Overview & Demo

Familiarize yourself with our Slack integration by watching the brief video demonstration below.

 

Table of Contents

• Installation
• General Usage
• Main Shortcuts
• Message Shortcuts
• Advanced Features
• Privacy & Support

Installation

To get started, activate the app inside ProjectManager:

• Click your name at the bottom left, then Integrations, then Slack
• Toggle on the Slack App integration
• Click the Add to Slack button
• Log into your Slack account

Now open Slack and you'll find the ProjectManager app installed and ready to use.

It’s important to consider which user first activates the Slack integration because their projects may be visible to other Slack users in your company. We recommend creating a new user and only giving them access to projects you’re happy for everyone to see, then activating the integration as this user. We have a change coming soon whereby every user will log in separately and only see their own projects. After this, it won't matter which user initially activates the integration.

The first time any of your team members interact with the app inside Slack, they'll be asked to log in to their own ProjectManager account:

 

 

This allows us to securely know who they are, so they can only interact with the projects and tasks to which they have access. Note that for security reasons, only members of your ProjectManager workspace will be able to log into your instance of the Slack app.

If any of your team members cannot interact with the app and don't see the prompt above, you can manually reconnect by opening a Direct Message to the ProjectManager app and sending the message "connections," more info.

General Usage

Our app uses Slack "shortcuts" to let you interact with your projects and tasks. Most shortcuts can be found in the / menu at the bottom of the message editor, or you can just type a / character and then start typing the name of the shortcut:

 

 

Also, at the top right of most messages in a channel is a menu, which will contain additional shortcuts that relate to the nearby message, such as converting that message to a task or comment:

 

Main Shortcuts

These shortcuts are found in the / menu at the bottom of the message editor.

Find a Task

This shortcut will search for a task and post that task back to the channel. If more than one result is found, we'll show you a list so you can choose the one you were looking for:

 

 

The task you choose will be posted to the channel for your team to see:

 

Create a Task

This shortcut will open a window where you can create a new task:

 

Edit a Task

When you post a task to a channel, you'll see buttons below the task details:

 

 

Clicking Edit will open a window where you can update the task:

 

Comment on a Task

When you post a task to a channel, you will see a Comment button at the bottom. Clicking this will open a window where you can add a comment to the task:

 

Create a Project

This shortcut will show a window where you can create a new project:

 

 

After creating the project, there will be buttons allowing you to add tasks to the project:

 

Message Shortcuts

At the top-right of your Slack messages, you'll see the More Actions button:

 

 

Clicking this button opens a menu where you'll find actions you can perform:

 

Create Task from Message

This shortcut will convert the message to a task. Clicking will open a window where you can enter the task details, and the message will be pre-filled into the Description field:

 

Create Comment from Message

This shortcut will add the message to a task as a comment. Clicking it will open a new window where you can choose the Project and Task to which the message should be added. You can also choose to append a note to the end of the message if you'd like to add more context:

 

Advanced Features

Status & Account Check

There's a ProjectManager Info shortcut that will show you the status of the ProjectManager app and your connection to it:

 

Reconnecting

If you want to switch between workspaces, log in to a different account, or generally troubleshoot your connection between the Slack app and ProjectManager, we have a tool that can help:

1. Inside Slack, open a new Direct Message with the ProjectManager app
2. Type the word: connections
3. The app will message back with your ProjectManager connection status
4. Use the buttons to connect or disconnect from your ProjectManager account

 

 

You'll need to be Connected to use the features described in this document.

Note that for security reasons, only users from your Workspace can connect to your Slack app. If users from another workspace try to connect, they will get an error.

View Your History

You can view a list of recent commands you've sent to the ProjectManager app and re-run them if desired. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Inside Slack, open a new Direct Message with the ProjectManager app
2. Type the word: history
3. You'll see your history, click an action to re-run it

Add the App to a Private Channel

If you interact with the ProjectManager bot inside a private Slack channel, you may find that replies from the bot are sent to you as a direct message. If you'd prefer our app to post replies to the private channel directly, you need to add it to the channel. You can do so by following these steps:

1. Inside Slack, right-click the private channel name and choose View Channel Details
2. Click the Integrations tab at the top of the channel details window
3. Click the Add an App button
4. Click the Add button beside the ProjectManager app

Help Inside Slack

You can view a summary of this user guide inside Slack:

1. Inside Slack, open a new Direct Message with the ProjectManager app
2. Type the word: help
3. You'll see all the shortcuts you can perform

Privacy and Support

For information on how we collect and manage your data, see our privacy policy. If you have any questions about our app for Slack, please email our support team! You can also watch our Listen & Learn video below for additional information on integrations.