How to schedule messages to send later in Slack for iPhone, iPad and Mac

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How to schedule messages in Slack
Avoid sending important messages at inconvenient times.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Not a good time to send that important message to a colleague in Slack? The widely used communication platform lets you schedule messages to send later on desktop and mobile. You simply choose the date and time, and Slack takes care of the rest.

The feature comes in particularly handy if you work with colleagues in other time zones and don’t want to bother them after hours. Here’s how to send Slack messages later on iPhone, iPad and Mac so they arrive at appropriate times.

How to send Slack message later

Slack ships with a number of measures that prevent you from inadvertently bothering colleagues at inconvenient times. One of those is its scheduling feature, which lets you compose messages that don’t send right away.

The tool helps you plan around things like important meetings or personal events. And it’s especially good for setting a Slack message to arrive during a colleague’s normal working hours. Or, if you get a crazy-good idea over the weekend, you can schedule a Slack message to arrive at 9:30 a.m. Monday, when your co-workers might be a little more, um, shall we say, receptive.

Slack’s schedule-for-later feature works great and couldn’t be easier to use. We’ll show you how.

Schedule a Slack message for later on iPhone

To schedule a Slack message on iPhone and iPad, follow these steps:

  1. Tap the compose button to start a new message and select who you want to receive your message. Or open an existing conversation where you want your message to be sent.
  2. Type out your message.
  3. Tap and hold the send button to open the schedule message feature.
  4. Choose a preset date and time to send your message, or select custom time for more options. Tap Schedule Message.

Schedule a Slack message for later on Mac

To schedule a message on Mac, follow these steps:

  1. Click the compose button to start a new message, or open an existing conversation where you want your message to be sent.
  2. Type out your message.
  3. Click the arrow next to the send button.
  4. Choose a preset date and time to send your message, or click Custom time for more options. Click Schedule Message.
How send Slack message later: Select custom time to choose a date and time that suits you.
Select “custom time” to choose a date and time that suits you.
Image: Slack

View Slack messages scheduled for later

If you go into a frenzy setting Slack messages to go out later, the software gives you an easy way to keep track of what you’ve queued up. It also lets you change your outgoing Slack messages in case you come up with a better way of communicating your bright idea. You also can delete scheduled Slack messages if you decide not to send them.

To view all your scheduled messages on iPhone, iPad or Mac, simply select the Scheduled channel in Slack’s sidebar. From there, you can reschedule messages, edit them before they’re sent, and cancel or delete them.

We originally published this how-to on July 27, 2021. 

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