How to Use Emojis in Slack: Shortcuts, Reactions, and Custom Emoji

Emojis in Slack: Why They Matter

Slack is built for quick asynchronous communication, and emojis play a central role. A 👍 reaction replaces a one-word reply that would otherwise generate a notification. A 🔥 in a channel name signals priority. Custom emojiEmoji
A Japanese word (絵文字) meaning 'picture character' — small graphical symbols used in digital communication to express ideas, emotions, and objects. become a shorthand for team in-jokes, product names, and approval workflows. This guide covers every emoji feature Slack offers.

Inserting Emojis with Colon Shortcodes

The fastest way to type an emoji in Slack is with its shortcode. Type : followed by a keyword, and Slack shows a dropdown of matching emojis as you type.

:fire:     → 🔥
:heart:    → ❤️
:thumbsup: → 👍
:party:    → 🎉
:check:    → ✅
:eyes:     → 👀
:rocket:   → 🚀
:wave:     → 👋

Press Tab or Enter to select from the dropdown, or keep typing to narrow results. Shortcodes work in messages, channel topics, channel descriptions, and even status text.

Useful Shortcode Patterns

Slack's search is fuzzy — you don't need the exact name. Try:

:smile:    → 😄
:grin:     → 😁
:cry:      → 😢
:clap:     → 👏
:100:      → 💯
:shrug:    → 🤷
:tada:     → 🎉
:zzz:      → 💤
:star:     → ⭐
:warning:  → ⚠️

Using the Emoji Picker

Click the 😊 smileySmiley
The original yellow circular face icon created by Harvey Ball in 1963, which inspired the design of modern face emoji. face icon at the right side of the message compose bar to open Slack's emoji picker. You can:

• Browse emojis by category
• Search by keyword or name
• See recently used emojis at the top
• Switch between standard emojis and your workspace's custom emoji

Keyboard Shortcut for the Emoji Picker

The most efficient approach in Slack is almost always the colon shortcode method.

Emoji Reactions

Reactions are one of Slack's most powerful features. Instead of sending a reply like "Got it" or "Sounds good," you add an emoji reaction directly to a message. This reduces channel noise and gives you a way to acknowledge messages without generating additional notifications.

Adding a Reaction

1. Hover over any message
2. Click the 😊 icon that appears to the right
3. Search for or browse to your emoji
4. Click it to add it as a reaction

Or use the keyboard shortcut:

Windows/Linux: Shift + right-click the message → Add Reaction
Mac: hover over message → click emoji icon

Reaction Best Practices

Teams often standardize their reaction vocabulary to create lightweight workflows:

Establishing these conventions in your team's handbook makes reactions much more useful than casual use.

Setting Your Skin Tone

Slack supports skin tone modifiers for all applicable emojis (👍, 🙏, 👋, etc.).

1. Click your workspace name or your profile icon
2. Go to Preferences → Emoji
3. Select your default skin tone from the six options

Once set, all skin-tone-compatible emojis will default to your chosen tone when you use them from the picker or via shortcode.

Custom Emoji: Uploading Your Own

Workspace admins (and members, if admins allow it) can upload custom emoji. These appear alongside standard emojis and have their own shortcodes.

How to Upload a Custom Emoji

1. Go to your workspace in the Slack desktop app or browser
2. Click the 😊 emoji icon in the message composer, then click Add Emoji at the bottom of the picker
3. Click Upload Image and select a square PNG or GIF (under 128KB, ideally 128×128 pixels)
4. Give it a name — this becomes the shortcode (e.g., name it parrot → shortcode :parrot:)
5. Click Save

The emoji is instantly available to everyone in your workspace with its :name: shortcode.

Custom Emoji Tips

• Use animated GIFs for fun celebratory emoji (:partyparrot:, :dancing:)
• Upload your company logo as a custom emoji for quick brand references
• Create status emoji for projects: :project-alpha:, :project-beta:
• Keep names short and memorable — you'll be typing them as shortcodes

Emoji in Slack Status

Your Slack status can include an emoji to communicate your availability or mood:

1. Click your profile picture
2. Click Update your status
3. Click the emoji icon next to the text field
4. Choose an emoji and type your status text

Common status emoji patterns:

🎧 In headphones — deep focus
🤒 Out sick today
✈️ Traveling / OOO
🏖️ On vacation until [date]
📞 On a call
🍕 On lunch break

Status emoji can have automatic expiration times — set them to clear after 30 minutes, 4 hours, or a specific date/time.

Emoji in Channel Names and Topics

Slack allows emoji in channel names. These appear in your sidebar and help with visual scanning:

#🔥-urgent-issues
#📣-announcements
#🐛-bug-reports
#🚀-launches
#💬-general

Note: Channel names technically store the shortcode (:fire:-urgent-issues), which Slack renders as an emoji in the UI. Not all Slack clients render these identically.

Emoji Search Tips

Slack's emoji search isn't always obvious. Some useful tricks:

• Search celebrate to find 🎉 (Slack uses tada as its name, but celebrate also works)
• Search yes or ok for a range of checkmarks and approval emoji
• Search neutral or expressionless for the deadpan face 😑
• Custom emoji are searchable by their name — if a team uploaded :narwhal:, searching narwhal finds it

Formatting Messages with Emoji

Slack emojis work in all text contexts. Use them for visual structure in longer messages:

Hey team! A few updates:

✅ Feature X shipped to production
🐛 Bug Y fix is in review — ETA tomorrow
⏳ Feature Z is blocked on design feedback
📅 Sprint review is Thursday at 3pm

Drop a 👀 if you're joining the review!

This style is much more scannable than plain prose for quick async updates.

Explore More on EmojiFYI

• Browse and copy emoji for your Slack messages with the Emoji Keyboard
• Convert descriptive text into emoji suggestions with Text to Emoji
• See how emoji render differently across platforms with the Platform Comparison Tool
• Discover emoji terminology in the Glossary