How to add and create custom emojis in Slack

So the first thing you may be asking yourself is, 'what is Slack?'.

Well, quite simply, it's a messaging system designed specifically for the workplace. Think of it as your 'WhatsApp for work'. Thanks to Slack, your overflowing email inbox will quickly become a thing of the past.

Slack empowers your organisation to bring people together and operate as one unified team and seamlessly integrates with your existing IT systems and platforms (including Zoom, monday.com, and Jira).

In short, Slack is the ultimate communication tool for businesses looking to transform and adapt to working in the digital age.

You've probably seen them somewhere.

The tears of laughter to capture the 'LOL' brought about by the hilarious GIF your colleague just shared (🤣), the love heart to show support for a friend in need (❤️) or the raised glasses to announce team drinks at the end of the week (🥂). Emojis have essentially entered our daily digital lexicon.

But what are they, and why do we use them?

An emoji is a visual representation of an emotion, object, or symbol.

We use emojis to help us communicate things we don't quite know how to put into words or add emphasis to a point we're trying to make. They help us communicate with friends and colleagues in a fun, light-hearted and informal way.

Be warned that once you've mastered this Slack hack, it can get addictive!

Slack already has over 2,000 emojis available for you to use. However, you can also create your own emojis in Slack. There are two different ways you can add your custom emojis to Slack, and the best part is, both methods are super easy!

We'll walk you through both methods so you can start adding your emojis to Slack based on your preference.

As well as creating and adding your own custom emoji, you can also add emoji packs to Slack too.

But what are emoji packs?

Emoji packs are groups of emojis centred around a specific theme. For example, you could have entire packs with different emojis, all representing 'hybrid working' or ‘food'.

They're a great way to quickly add a large number of emojis without having to create each one from scratch.

And like creating your custom emojis, they're straightforward to add.

To add emoji packs into Slack, simply:

Here are a few things you should be aware of before you start using your custom emojis in Slack:

Don't worry, we've got you covered.

Here's six of the best, used by our team here at Upscale to help give you some ideas:

Did you know, you can use emojis to trigger workflow automations in other project management tools you may be using outside of Slack?

For example, if you're communicating day-to-day with your team using Slack, you may also be managing and tracking wider project progress, goals and updates in monday.com. Constantly having to switch between these two tools, as well as all the other platforms you're required to use to get your work done, comes with a heavy time, cognitive and emotional cost.

So, how can a simple emoji help tackle this major productivity hurdle?

Well, you can use an emoji reaction to a Slack message to automatically create an item in monday.com. Seen a great idea for a new piece of content shared in a Slack channel, and want to make sure it's tracked as an actionable item in monday.com? Then simply react to that message with your chosen emoji, and let your automation do the rest!

Your need to switch between monday.com and Slack will reduce massively, and you'll gain back precious headspace and hours in your work week.

Follow our guide on how to set up the emoji reaction trigger automation, and start powering up your workflow automations with a simple click!

Created an emoji you're not entirely happy with? Maybe the sizing was off, and you'd like to start again?

Don't worry; it's why pencils have erasers and why Slack lets you delete custom emojis easily.

To delete your custom emoji, follow the same steps you would to create an emoji but, when you get to the 'Customize Your Workspace' page, type the name of your emoji into the search bar. Once you've found your emoji, simply click on the 'x' to the right of it to delete it.

Please note you can only delete emojis that you have created.