Slack

Moving from Slack rarely happens in one day. Connect Slack and pair a Slack channel with a Deckbell channel: new messages, thread replies and files show up on both sides, and edits and deletes made in Slack follow, so people who've moved and people who haven't yet still talk to each other. You can also create Deckbell issues straight from Slack.

You need permission to manage integrations to connect Slack and pair channels. If Slack shows Not available yet, it isn't set up on this Deckbell server.

Migrating from Slack

A smooth move usually looks like this:

1. Bring your history. Import a Slack export so your channels, threads and files are already in Deckbell.
2. Connect Slack and pair your busiest channels (below). From now on, anything said on either side shows up on the other.
3. Invite your team and let people switch at their own pace. Nobody misses a message while some are still in Slack.
4. Unpair each channel once everyone has moved. Both sides keep their messages.

Connect Slack

1. Go to Integrations → Slack and choose Add to Slack.
2. Pick your Slack workspace and allow the Deckbell app.

You're back in Deckbell with Slack connected. One Slack workspace can be connected to one Deckbell workspace. Disconnect removes the app from Slack and unpairs every channel; messages already mirrored stay where they are.

Pair channels

Under Paired channels, pick a Slack channel and the Deckbell channel it should mirror, then choose Pair.

• Public Slack channels: the Deckbell app joins the channel for you.
• Private Slack channels: first invite the app in Slack (/invite @Deckbell), then it shows up in the list.
• Each Slack channel pairs with one Deckbell channel, and the other way round.

Only new messages are mirrored from the moment you pair. For older history, use the Slack import.

What's mirrored

	Slack → Deckbell	Deckbell → Slack
New messages	✓	✓
Thread replies	✓	✓
Edits	✓	Issue cards stay up to date
Deletes	✓ (shown as "This message was deleted in Slack")	✓
Files	Copied (images, video, audio, PDFs within your upload limit); other files as links	Links to the files
Formatting, links, @mentions	✓	✓

Reactions, pins and channel settings stay on their own side.

Who's who

People are matched by email address. If someone's Slack email belongs to a member of your Deckbell workspace, their Slack messages appear as theirs in Deckbell.

Everyone else shows with their Slack name and photo and a small via Slack tag; they don't get a Deckbell account. Once they join with the same email, their new messages appear as theirs.

In Slack, messages from Deckbell are posted by the Deckbell app with the author's name and photo.

Pause and unpair

• Pause stops mirroring in both directions for a while; Resume starts again with new messages (what was said in between isn't copied over).
• Unpair stops mirroring for good. Both channels keep their messages.

If a pair stops working (for example, the app was removed from a private Slack channel or the channel was archived), Deckbell shows why under the pair. Pairing, pausing, resuming and unpairing are recorded in the workspace's audit log.

Create issues from Slack

• Type /deckbell in any Slack channel to open a form for a new issue, or /deckbell Fix the login timeout to start it with that title.
• On any message, choose More actions → Create Deckbell issue. The form is filled in with the message, and the issue links back to it.

Pick the project, check the title and choose Create. If the channel is paired with a project's channel, that project is already picked. The issue is created as you, so your Slack email must belong to a member of the Deckbell workspace whose role can create issues. /deckbell help shows these options in Slack.

Good to know

• Slack limits how fast apps can post. When a lot happens at once, messages may take a few seconds to show up on the other side; nothing is lost.
• Messages Deckbell posts in Slack are never mirrored back, and the other way round, so nothing is duplicated.
• Direct messages and group DMs aren't mirrored.