How to Format Slack Messages Using OttoKit

Formatting messages in Slack can significantly enhance their expressiveness and detail, providing clarity to your readers at a glance, and using fewer words.

In this article, we will explore how to elevate your communication in Slack by leveraging formatting features and integrating these into Slack’s automation workflows.

Basics of Message Formatting

Bold: The bold format emphasizes or highlights some key information, headings, or important points.

Italic: Commonly used for specifying words that are different from the rest of the words like Book titles, movies, etc.

Strikethrough: It indicates that a word or phrase has been deleted, edited, or no longer valid without completely removing it by striking a horizontal line through the center of the text.

You can decide the text format by selecting the options from the formatting toolbar by clicking the Aa icon or using the Markup.

Also after writing the message you can select the text and use the formatting toolbar as shown:

Markup For Text Styling Options

You can use markup to format messages both in Slack and its workflows in OttoKit.The Slack Message window in OttoKit will look like this:

Markups:

*Bold*

• For Bold: Wrap your words with an asterisk(*).

_Italic_

• For Italic: Wrap your words with underscores(_).

~Strikethrough~

• For Strikethrough: Wrap your words with tildes(~).

Block Quotes

Block quotes are used when you want to highlight a portion of text, similar to quoting someone in an email or document. They make the quoted text visually distinct from the rest of your message by applying an indented style. This is useful for drawing attention to an important statement, referencing a previous message, or emphasizing a piece of information without mixing it into your regular text.

To create a block quote in Slack:

• Start the line with the > symbol followed by a space.
• Everything after the > on that line will appear as a block quote.
• You can add multiple lines of block quotes by placing > before each line.

Example (input):

> This is a block quote.

Output in Slack:

This is a block quote.

Multiple line example (input):

> Line one of the quote  
> Line two of the quote  

Output in Slack:

Line one of the quote
Line two of the quote

Block quotes are especially helpful when referencing customer feedback, instructions, or excerpts from longer texts in your Slack messages or workflows.

Advanced Message Formatting

Inline & Multiline Code Blocks

Inline Code

Inline code is used to highlight short snippets of code, commands, or specific keywords within a sentence. It keeps the text on the same line while applying a monospace font and a gray background, making it stand out from regular text. This is especially useful for things like filenames, function names, variable names, or short commands.

• To format text as inline code, wrap it with a single backtick `.

Example (input):

Please run the command `npm install` before starting the project.

Output in Slack:
Please run the command npm install before starting the project.

Inline code is best suited for short, single words or commands, rather than large chunks of code.

Multiline Code Blocks

Multiline code blocks are used when you want to share longer code snippets, logs, configuration files, or multi-line commands. They display the content in a block with monospace formatting, preserving indentation, spacing, and line breaks. This makes the code easy to read and copy.

• To create a code block, wrap your text with triple backticks “` (on separate lines).
• Everything between the triple backticks will be displayed as one formatted block.

Example (input):

Please run the command ```npm install``` before starting the project.

Output in Slack:

Multiline code blocks are best for longer pieces of code or structured text where formatting needs to be preserved.

Tip: Use inline code for short references inside text, and multiline code blocks for bigger sections or examples.

Adding Emojis

Emojis and Emoticons can help you set the tone of the message and allow you to express emotions. They can draw attention to important points without using many words and also add a sense of humor and fun to team conversations.

You can use many emojis from the emoji icon in Slack as shown:

Markup For Emojis

Emojis can be inserted using Markups also. These markups are more handy for inserting emojis in Slack workflows inside OttoKit.

Markup:

• Wrap the Emoji name with colons(:).

Example:– :thumbsup:

Inserting Links

URLs are automatically hyperlinked in Slack but you can also show Link Text instead of the whole URL using the following Markup.

Markup For Inserting Links

This same markup can be used in Slack automation workflows inside OttoKit:

Markup:

• Type an open angle bracket (<), your URL link, a pipe character (|), your link text, and a closing angle bracket.

Example:– <https://www.suretriggers.com|Link Text>

Link text should include spaces between words

Output:

Using Mentions and Notifications

Slack mentions are a direct way to make announcements and to draw the attention of specific members of the channel.

To mention any specific person, just type @, and a list of members of the channel will open up. From the list just select the person whom you want to mention.

To make an announcement or to notify all the members at once, just type @, and select any of the following options:

@channel: It notifies all the members present in a particular channel.

@everyone: This mention will notify everyone present in your workspace.

@here: This mention will notify every online member in this channel.

Markups for Mentions and notifications

Markups:

• User Mentions: If you want to mention a particular person, just type an open angle bracket(<), the at symbol(@) followed by the Slack Member ID, and a closing angle bracket.
  For example: <@FG3123321>
  Note:- To find the Slack Member ID just click open the Slack profile of the person whom you want to mention and click on the Copy Member ID option.

• Mention Everyone: To mention everyone in your workspace, type an open angle bracket(<), an exclamation mark(!), “everyone” and a closing angle bracket(>).
  Example: <!everyone>

• Mention Here: To mention every online member of the channel, use this Markup: <!here>

• Channel Mentions: If you want to mention or link a specific channel, type an open angle bracket (<), the hash symbol (#) followed by the Slack Channel ID, and a closing angle bracket (>).
  For example: <#C05V2HVTSSK>
  Note: To find the Channel ID, click on the channel name. A popup will open with the channel details. Scroll down to the About section in the popup — the Channel ID will be displayed at the bottom.
  In the example below, the Channel ID is C05V2HVTSSK.

• User Group Mentions: If you want to mention an entire user group, type an open angle bracket (<), an exclamation mark (!), the word subteam^ followed by the Slack User Group ID, and a closing angle bracket (>).
  For example: <!subteam^S123456>
  Note: To find the User Group ID, go to People & User Groups in Slack and select the group. The Group ID usually starts with S (e.g., S123456). You may need admin permissions or Slack API access to view this ID.

Mentioning and Notification Markups can be best used in Slack automation workflows.

Note:– If you prefer using Markups for formatting your messages you can change formatting preferences with the following steps

• Click on your profile Picture.
• Select Preferences from the Menu
• Select the Advanced option.
• Under the Inputs option check the box next to Format Messages with Markup.

There you have it! Now you know how to properly format your message in Slack and Slack workflows in OttoKit.

If you have any more questions, feel free to reach us at support@suretriggers.com.