How to mute or follow a channel

Every What is chat? channel and direct message has a bell in its header. It sets how much that conversation buzzes you, one of the layers in What are notifications?.

Your Default for channels covers every channel you have not set, and the bell covers the ones you have. The default itself is in How to set quiet hours and your default chat level.

How do you set a level on one channel?

Click the bell at the right of the channel's header and pick one of three:

• Every message: a buzz for anything said there.
• Mentions & replies: a buzz only when somebody mentions you, replies to you or uses @channel.
• Muted: no buzz from this channel at all, including mentions.

The choice applies to that channel alone and beats your default. The bell shows which level is on: it rings for Every message, is crossed out for Muted, and is plain for Mentions & replies.

Until you pick a level, the channel follows your default and the bell shows the plain Mentions & replies look.

How do you do it in the iPhone app?

Open the channel and tap the bell at the top. The app names the levels All messages, Mentions & replies and Muted, where All messages is the web's Every message.

Until you pick one, nothing in the list is ticked, because the channel is following your default. The level you set on the phone and on the web is the same setting.

Which channels deserve which level?

Every message for the one or two channels where the conversation is your job. Whoever packs orders at Fairgreen Golf Co. might set it on the fulfilment channel and nowhere else.

Mentions & replies for everything you are genuinely part of, which is most channels.

Muted for the channels you belong to so you can read them, not so you can be interrupted. Announcement channels, other teams' working channels, anything you read weekly rather than hourly.

Does muting hide the channel?

No. Muting changes buzzes only.

The channel stays in your channel list, its unread count still goes up, and everything is there when you open it. You have turned off the interruption and kept the information.

Does Every message buzz me for every single message?

Close to it. On a channel you set to Every message with the bell, a busy exchange is collapsed so you get at most one buzz from that channel every two minutes, rather than one per message.

A mention or a reply to you still buzzes straight away.

Do quiet hours still apply?

Yes, on top of whatever level you choose. A channel set to Every message stays silent inside your quiet hours. See How to set quiet hours and your default chat level.

What is the sensible setup?

We recommend Mentions & replies only as your default for channels. Then set Every message on the one channel that is your actual job, and mute the ones you are in for visibility.