Slack gives a founder about nine controls for cutting noise, and they live in several places: your preferences, the channel header, the profile menu and the Activity view. This guide puts them in the order we would set them, with the exact menu names as Slack's Help Center states them today, and says which ones depend on your plan or on desktop versus mobile. It is written for someone who sits in many channels and wants to keep only what needs them.
Two Slack notification defaults most people miss
When we checked the Help Center on 2026-11-01, the "Configure your Slack notifications" page said that mentions, reactions and thread replies always show in Activity, and listed four optional items you can add: DMs and group DMs, channels set to All new posts, to-do reminders and suggested important unreads. It also stated the default timing for mobile alerts: one minute after you lock your desktop screen, or 10 minutes after Slack stops detecting cursor activity. Those two details explain most "why is my phone buzzing" and "why is Activity so full" complaints, and neither is visible until you open the menu.
The page also did not say which option, Everything or Mentions and direct messages, is the default for a new account, so check yours under Preferences, Notifications before you change anything. Menu labels can differ by app version and platform, so treat the paths below as the wording on those pages on that date.
Which Slack notification settings depend on your plan?
On the pages we read, only the VIP filter in Activity is stated as paid-plan only. Slack's pause page lists pausing notifications and the notification schedule as available on all plans. Platform matters more than plan in two places: temporary muting is described for desktop only, and the mobile menus use different names than desktop.
Slack notification settings at a glance: what each one does
Nine settings do the work. Every path below is for the desktop app and follows the wording on the Help Center pages we fetched on 2026-11-01. The last column is our opinion, not Slack's.
| Feature | What it does | When a founder should use it |
|---|---|---|
| Default: Mentions and direct messages (profile picture, Preferences, Notifications, What to notify you about) | Notifies you only for mentions and DMs instead of Everything. | First change you make. It sets the baseline everything else is an exception to. |
| Channel setting: All new posts or Just mentions (Notifications icon at the top of a channel or group DM) | Overrides the default for one conversation. Advanced options adds toggles such as Badge every unread message and Follow every thread. | For the few channels where a missed post costs you, such as a client or incident channel. |
| Mute and hide (Notifications icon on desktop, Mute channel on mobile) | Turns off notifications for the conversation. Slack says a numbered badge still shows if you are mentioned or get a DM. | For channels you joined but do not need to read. |
| Channel keywords (Preferences, Notifications, Channel keywords) | Notifies you when an exact word or phrase appears in a channel you have joined. | For client, project or deal names people write without mentioning you. |
| Pause notifications (profile picture, hover Notifications) | Stops notifications for a time frame you pick, or Custom. Others see a snooze icon next to your name and, when messaging you directly, can override the pause once per day to flag an urgent message. | For a focus block. Slack's pause page also lists slash commands such as /dnd until 5pm and /dnd off. |
| Working hours (Preferences, Working hours, Allow notifications) | A routine schedule: Every day, Weekdays or Custom. Outside it, notifications are paused. | For evenings and weekends, so you do not pause by hand each day. |
| VIP list (Preferences, VIP) | Up to 300 people, apps and workflows. Their DMs and mentions appear in a VIP unreads section at the top of your sidebar, and Always allow notifications from VIPs lets them through focus mode and Do Not Disturb. The VIP filter in Activity is paid-plan only. | For the handful of people who may interrupt your off hours. |
| What to show in Activity (Preferences, Notifications) | Chooses which extra items appear in Activity: DMs and group DMs, channels set to All new posts, to-do reminders and suggested important unreads. Mentions, reactions and thread replies always show. | If Activity is your triage view, so it holds only what you will act on. |
| When I'm not active on desktop (Preferences, Notifications) | Sets how soon mobile notifications arrive. Default is one minute after locking the desktop or 10 minutes without cursor activity. | If your phone buzzes while you are still at your desk, or the reverse. |
How to mute Slack channels without missing a mention
Mute a channel with the Notifications icon at the top of it, then Mute and hide. Slack says muted conversations still show a numbered badge if you are mentioned or get a DM, and Threads turns bold when someone replies to a message you sent there.
There is a quieter option than muting: set the channel to Just mentions. You keep notifications for mentions and lose the rest of the traffic. For one-to-one DMs, the same icon mutes the conversation automatically, and Slack notes that you cannot mute Slackbot. To audit what you have already changed, open Preferences, Notifications and scroll to Exceptions to the defaults, where Slack's channel page says icons such as the megaphone, mention and mute icons show each change and the close icon resets a conversation to the default.
How do Slack keyword notifications work?
You enter words or phrases under Channel keywords in Preferences, Notifications, and Slack notifies you when someone uses one in a channel you have joined, with the keyword highlighted in yellow. Matching is exact and not case-sensitive, and a keyword in a thread you are not following will not notify you.
That makes keywords good for names that people type without an @, and poor for anything with variant spellings. Add the two or three spellings you actually see, and keep the list short, because every keyword is another way to be interrupted.
Slack notification schedule, Do Not Disturb and VIPs
Use Working hours for the routine and Pause notifications for the exception. If a workspace or org owner or admin has set a default schedule, Slack says the schedule you set yourself overrides it.
Pausing silences notifications, so decide who gets through first. Slack's VIP page says Always allow notifications from VIPs lets VIP notifications arrive during focus mode or Do Not Disturb, and it is found under Preferences, VIP on desktop.
Which Slack notifications belong in the Activity view?
Keep only the Slack notifications you will act on in Activity. Activity always shows mentions, reactions and thread replies, and you decide whether DMs, channels set to All new posts, to-do reminders and suggested important unreads join them. If you use Later, see how the To-dos tab replaces Later.
A five step Slack notification setup order (our suggestion)
Set the default first, then add exceptions, then add rules for time. This order is our suggestion, not Slack's, and it moves through the Slack settings in the table from broad to narrow.
- Set the default. Profile picture, Preferences, Notifications, then choose Mentions and direct messages under What to notify you about.
- Add exceptions per channel. In each channel you cannot afford to miss, choose All new posts from the Notifications icon. Set the middle group to Just mentions and use Mute and hide for the rest. Check the result under Exceptions to the defaults.
- Add a short keyword list. Client names and project names, in the spellings people really use.
- Set your hours and your VIPs. Working hours for the routine, Pause notifications for focus blocks, and on a paid plan a VIP list with Always allow notifications from VIPs.
- Trim Activity. Under What to show in Activity, keep only the types you will act on, and nothing else.
If notifications seem to vanish, check whether you are paused: Slack's pause page says others see a snooze icon next to your name while you are. For why switching between apps costs more than the pings themselves, see the cost of context switching for founders.
Where Nolario fits
Slack's settings decide what makes noise inside Slack, and Nolario does not change any of them. Nolario is a desktop web app that pulls Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Calendar into one feed, scores each item from 0 to 100 and ranks the feed, so Slack sits in the same ranked list as your email and calendar.
Slack content reaches the AI only when you take an action, and Nolario drafts replies in your voice but never sends them. It has no mobile app, and access today is by waitlist, opening May to August 2027. If your problem is that Slack alone is too loud, the steps above are where to start. If it is that the important thing might be in any of five channels, read how to combine Gmail and Slack in one inbox, how to check Gmail, Slack and Teams without missing clients and how AI decides what is important. See the integrations and pricing pages; plans start at €29/mo (waitlist).
