Saved items: bookmarks for Slack

Don't keep important messages in your head — your head is a poor tool for that, especially on a day full of dozens of other messages, notifications, and tasks. Slack has its own bookmarking system built right in, so you don't need to switch to another app just to jot something down for later. It's the browser-bookmarks idea, just for messages instead of web pages — a simple tool that does exactly what you use it for.

A typical scenario

Colleague Markéta stumbles across a message with a link to a document she'll need next week, in the middle of a busy channel. She doesn't have time to open it right now, so she tells herself she'll “just remember it” — of course she forgets, and ends up scrolling back through the channel history looking for it.

With saved items, she instead clicks the bookmark icon, the message goes into her personal Later list, and next week she simply finds it there — along with context on who sent it and in which channel. She doesn't have to remember anything or write it down elsewhere; the whole process takes one click, right at the moment she comes across the message.

How to do it

1. Hover over the message you want to save for later and click the bookmark icon (Save for later) that appears next to it.
2. Find your full list of saved messages in the left sidebar under Later — it works as a personal list only you can see.
3. Check off resolved items as you get to them — the list then works like a mini task manager right inside Slack, with no need to switch to another app.
4. You can save messages from any channel and from private conversations too — it works across all of Slack, not just wherever you currently are.
5. Review the list regularly, ideally at a fixed time during the day or week — otherwise it just becomes a place where things disappear, not an actual tool for handling them.

The best tools

• Slack's built-in Later — the fastest route, one click right on the message, no switching apps.
• Reminders via /remind or “Remind me about this” — combine with saved items when you also want Slack to notify you about a saved item at a specific time.
• Todoist or Notion — for merging saved messages with the rest of your personal tasks into one central list.
• Browser bookmarks or Pocket — if a saved message contains a link to a longer article to read, it's worth moving it straight into a reading app rather than leaving it hanging in Slack.

What you get out of it

• Peace of mind: nothing important gets lost among the dozens of messages that arrive right after.
• Time: no more scrolling back through channel history trying to find a message you “somehow remembered.”
• Clarity: one list in one place instead of scattered notes across different apps.
• Less mental load: your head doesn't have to try to remember things whose turn won't come for another week anyway.
• One habit instead of several systems: saving directly in Slack means you don't have to switch between a chat app and a notes app just for one message you're putting off.

Pro tip

Check off and delete resolved items from the list regularly — Later works best as an active list of a few things, not an archive of hundreds of messages you saved at some point and never actually returned to.