Before you start
Only workspace owners and admins can import. You’ll find it in Deckbell under Settings → Import → Slack.
Deckbell matches the people in your Slack export to members of your workspace by email address. Anyone who is a member when you import gets their messages, reactions and channel memberships. Messages from people who aren’t members yet are still imported, under their Slack name with an “imported” tag.
You can invite your team first from Settings → Members, or invite people from the import itself. Once they join, import the same export again and their messages are credited to them.
Export your Slack workspace
A Slack workspace owner or admin can export the workspace:
- In Slack, click your workspace name, then Tools & settings → Workspace settings.
- Open Import/Export Data and choose the Export tab.
- Pick a date range (for example, Entire history) and click Start Export.
- Slack emails you when the export is ready. Download the ZIP file, and don’t unzip it.
What’s in the export depends on your Slack plan. On Free and Pro it holds public channels only. On Business+ and Enterprise Grid, owners can also export private channels, group DMs and direct messages. Deckbell imports whatever the export contains.
Upload the export and choose what to bring
- In Deckbell, go to Settings → Import and click Import from Slack.
- Drop the ZIP file on the page, or click Choose file. Exports can be up to 500 MB. Keep the page open while it uploads.
- Deckbell reads the export, which can take a few minutes for a big workspace. Nothing is imported yet.
- Check the preview: how many conversations and messages the export holds, how many people matched a member of your workspace, and every conversation with its message count. Private channels, group DMs, DMs and archived channels are labelled.
- Tick the conversations you want, then click Import.
Archived channels start unticked. A conversation is greyed out when it can’t be imported: a private channel or group DM needs at least one of its members in your workspace, and a DM needs both people.
Invite people as you import
People who didn’t match a member are listed under Invite people from Slack with their email address. Tick the ones to invite (or Select all) and they’re sent an invitation by email when the import starts.
People who were deactivated in Slack, or whose email isn’t in the export, can’t be ticked. Invitations count towards your plan’s members; if there isn’t room, you’re asked to upgrade or invite fewer people.
Files
Leave Copy shared files into Deckbell on to copy images, videos, audio and PDFs into the conversations, up to your plan’s upload size. Other files, and files Slack no longer has, become a link to Slack. Turn it off to link every file instead, which is faster for very large exports.
What comes across
| From Slack | In Deckbell |
|---|---|
| Public channels | Public channels, with their purpose (or topic) as the description. Slack’s #general goes into your #general, and a channel whose name matches one you already have goes into that channel. |
| Private channels | New private channels. Only the matched members who were in them are added. |
| Group DMs | Private channels named after the people in them. |
| Direct messages | The DM between the two people (an existing one is reused). |
| Messages | With their original date, time and author. Edits keep the final text. |
| Threads | Replies stay in their thread. |
| Reactions | Reactions by matched members. Standard emoji are kept; custom Slack emoji show as their name. |
| Formatting | Bold, italic, strikethrough, code, quotes, links, @mentions and #channel links. |
| Files | Images, videos, audio and PDFs are copied in (when Copy shared files is on). Other files become a link with the file’s name. |
Imported history is quiet: nobody is notified, and old messages don’t show up as unread. The import runs in the background, so you can leave the page and come back to Settings → Import to see how far it got.
What stays in Slack
- Other kinds of files, such as documents, spreadsheets and archives. They become links to Slack that work for as long as your Slack workspace exists, so download anything you want to keep before you close Slack.
- Join and leave messages, topic changes, pins and other Slack notices.
- Custom emoji images, bookmarks, canvases, lists, huddles, apps and workflows.
- Archived state: archived channels you import become normal channels.
Catch up on messages sent during the switch
You can import the same export again, or a newer export that overlaps it. Messages that were already imported are skipped, so nothing is duplicated. A newer export brings over what was said in Slack while your team was switching.
Importing again also credits messages to people who have joined since: messages imported under someone’s Slack name are given to their Deckbell account once they’re a member with the same email.
When an import finishes, the report shows how many messages were imported, into how many conversations, how many files were copied and how many people were invited. Every import is recorded in the audit log.
After the move
- Every board in Deckbell has its own channel. New issues post a card there, and the card’s thread is the issue’s comments.
- Type an issue key like WEB-142 in any message and it links to the issue. Any message can become an issue.
- A conversation shows its most recent 200 messages; use search to find older ones.
- If your workspace has a message retention period, imported messages older than it are deleted the next time retention runs. Turn on legal hold or lengthen retention first if you want to keep them.
- On the Free plan, chat shows the last 90 days of history. Older imported messages are kept and come back when you upgrade.