10 apps for Slack that just keep getting better

As the Slack App Directory continues to grow, we’re always on the lookout for the next fresh idea. And while new apps are certainly great, many of our longtime favorites continue to evolve and improve.

What kind of changes are we talking about? For starters, 2018 saw the rollout of message actions, which lets you turn any message from Slack into next steps—like a new task or comment—in other apps. That means less context switching as you hop from app to app and fewer follow-ups falling through the cracks.

To make sure your team is taking advantage of all the biggest updates, we’ve put together this quick list of 10 apps that have made notable strides in the past year. Each offers new ways to connect and complete projects with your team, using software that’s likely already part of your everyday workflow.

1. G Suite

Google’s options for Slack include Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Google Hangouts. Google Drive’s new bot will alert you when someone shares a file with you and will notify you when anyone leaves a comment or makes an edit to your documents.

Plus, whenever you share a document in a Slack channel, the bot will automatically check the access permissions for every member of the channel and give you a one-click option to change settings so everyone there can read, suggest, or edit the document.

2. Dropbox Paper

Both Dropbox and Dropbox Paper continue to evolve and improve their apps for Slack. Dropbox Paper’s new app lets you create and share new documents in channels with a slash command. Use it to take notes in your next team meeting while also letting anyone in your channel follow along.

3. Atlassian

Atlassian offers a suite of apps for Slack, and Jira Cloud, Bitbucket Cloud, Confluence Cloud, and Trello all saw improvements and updates in 2018.

These apps can send alerts into channels when new items are created or completed, and Jira and Bitbucket added message actions, which let you append any message in Slack to a new Jira ticket or a Bitbucket pull request.

4. Zapier

Zapier can now push messages in Slack to any one of the 1,400 tools available on its platform thanks to message actions. From messages in Slack, you can send to Evernote, create a Todoist task, and add new items in Airtable. With Zapier, turn your Slack conversations into action by connecting your messages to the tools you use to get work done.

5. Github

Github recently redesigned and revamped its app for Slack. Updates include new options for customizing which notifications get sent to channels, better previews of issues, pull requests, and code snippets, as well as a slash command for opening, closing, and reopening issues and pull requests, all without ever leaving Slack.

6. Asana

Message actions also enhanced Asana’s app in 2018. Now you can create a new task from any message in Slack, or append message text to existing tasks, giving your team the ability to go from ideas in a conversation to actionable tasks with just a couple clicks.

7. Microsoft OneDrive

Microsoft OneDrive lets you import your files into Slack with the push of a button. Once it’s been added to Slack, your team will get file previews and OneDrive files can be searched inside of Slack even when they’re updated during the life of a project.

8. InVision

InVision is a great way for design teams to stay in sync, and its Slack app notifies your team whenever projects are updated or changed. Detailed previews of InVision projects in Slack make getting feedback on mockups from your whole team direct and easy.

9. Polly

Polly is great for creating quick, rich polls on the fly within Slack, but you can also run robust surveys. Its latest workflow and template features even let you link surveys and polls to timed events, so you can automatically send out happiness surveys to new hires at the end of their first day, week, and month.

10. Workast

Workast is a popular project management platform built specifically for teams that use Slack, and it’s now easier to work with thanks to message actions. Your team can create new tasks from messages or attach Slack messages to existing tasks, as well as stay up to date on changes to projects thanks to notifications in channels.

If you haven’t already checked out the Slack App Directory, give it a gander and try searching for any apps you’re already using. Chances are there is a way to bring more of your team’s work in other apps to Slack, where you can collaborate, give feedback, and complete projects together.