Slack is a popular communication service primarily used in workplace environments. If you want to try it, you can create your own free Slack workspace and invite anyone you want. Here’s how to set it up.
To set up your own Slack workspace, head to www.slack.com and click the “Get Started” button in the top-right corner.
Click on the “Create a New Workspace” option.
Enter your email address and click “Confirm.”
This email address is used as your login name and as the contact address for billing information if you eventually choose to move to a paid Slack plan rather than the free plan. It’s also used to send you a six-digit confirmation code (to make sure it’s a live address), which you need to enter on the next page.
Once you’ve entered the code, you need to choose a name for your Slack workspace. This will become part of the URL that you use to access your Slack workspace.
For example, if Wile E. Coyote wanted to create a Slack instance for ACME Anvils, he would put “ACME Anvils” in this field, and his Slack instance would be https://acmeanvils.slack.com/.
Enter a name and click “Next.”
If someone has already used the name you’ve chosen, Slack will tell you to pick another name.
Once you’ve entered a unique name, Slack asks you to enter the name of a project you’re working on. When you’re just trying Slack out this might seem odd, but Slack is aimed at businesses who want a way for their staff to communicate and collaborate.
This process will create a channel in your new Slack workspace that you can delete if it’s unwanted.
Now you have the opportunity to add the email addresses of other people you want to invite. Enter one or more email addresses and click “Add Teammates.”
Alternatively, you click on”Get an Invitation Link to Share,” which you can send to anyone you want.
If you want to keep your workspace private, click “Skip for Now.”
Your workspace is now ready to use. Click “See Your Channel in Slack” to open it.
Here’s what the workspace name and channel list looks like when it first opens. As you can see, channel names are all lowercase and have no spaces. You can add a hyphen to put spaces between channel names.
Click the “Finish Signing Up” button in the chat window to create a password for your account and more.
In the first page of three, enter your name and password and then click “Next.”
In the second page, confirm the name of the workspace and the URL. Click “Next.”
On the final page, enter the email addresses of anyone you want to invite and then click “Finish.”
Now you’ve set up Slack, click the arrow next to your workspace name to see the user menu. If you haven’t invited anyone yet because you just want to have a poke around, this is where you’ll find the “Invite People” option.
Slack has lots of options to explore, so have a look around and see what interests you. Start by personalizing the colors (maybe you’d like to turn on dark mode?) and adding your favorite emojis and go from there.
