Write Slack Posts in Markdown

By default, Slack provides you with a Formatting toolbar and a WYSIWYG editor. I’m a big fan of writing in Markdown rather than WYSIWYG and use it everywhere I can. Fortunately, I can configure Slack to write in Markdown (or more accurately Slack’s subset of Markdown).

If you’re not already using Markdown, Slack probably isn’t the best place to get started but if you’re a Markdown fan like me I strongly suggest going to

• Preferences (on a Mac, this is at Slack > Settings...)
• Advanced
• Input options
• and checking Format messages with markup

The slack help article Format your messages in Slack with markup has more information including a list of what markdown formatting is supported.

Note: Slack refers to their subset of Markdown as “markup” (which I think is confusing).

Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)

Sal is a PHP and JavaScript developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a principal engineer.