Ephemeral messages

Post channel messages in a more discreet way.

  • Written by Piotr Bakker
    Updated on May 5, 2021

With GreetBot you can give your new colleagues a gentle nudge whenever they join a particular channel using ephemeral channel messages. These messages are only visible to each new joiner and nobody else. It’s a great way to help new channel joiners get oriented without interrupting any ongoing conversations.

  • Jimmy
    Joined #exec-ama.

  • Only visible to you

  • GreetBot
    Welcome to the #exec-ama channel @jimmy!
    Here you can ask a question and get an answer from the most appropriate member of the executive team 👩‍💼👨‍💼
    Make sure to scroll through the conversation history to get a sense of the format and the kind of topics we’ve covered so far 💬

Message GreetBot...

Ephemeral messages can provide contextual information about each channel in a discreet form factor.

Configuration

To post channel messages in the ephemeral mode follow these steps:

  1. Sign in with Slack at greet.bot/account.
  2. From your Dashboard go to Message Schedule.
  3. Locate the channel message configuration you want to modify and click on “Edit.”
  4. Scroll down to the Ephemeral Mode section.
  5. Use the toggle on the right-hand side to turn the ephemeral mode ON or OFF.
  6. Click on “Save message” to apply changes.

Re-opening ephemeral messages

Ephemeral messages behave differently from regular messages on Slack. They disappear when Slack reloads and won’t show up again when Slack is opened in a new browser window or on a different device. For a message to be delivered the recipient also has to have his/her availability set to “active.” Should anyone on your team miss a message for any of these reasons, though, they can always type the /greet slash command in the relevant channel to view that message again (only visible to them, of course).

Availability

To configure ephemeral messages you will need a paid subscription. Visit our Pricing page for detailed information on availability and pricing. Contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.