How to Record Slack
Record Slack without exposing private channels and DMs. Custom area capture setup, notification management, and tips for workflow tutorials.
When you’d need to record Slack
Slack workflow and automation tutorials
Record how to set up Slack Workflow Builder automations — trigger, steps, form fields. Workflow Builder's UI is too complex to explain in a text doc with screenshots.
IT onboarding for new employees
Show new hires how your Slack workspace is organized — which channels to join, where to ask questions, how to use custom emoji reactions for approvals.
Bug report with full conversation context
Record a Slack thread where a bug was reported and discussed. Captures the full context — original report, replies, attached screenshots — in one video instead of copy-pasting a 30-message thread.
Slack Connect demos for clients
Show a client how to use Slack Connect for shared channels between your organizations. Record the setup flow and pin the video in the shared channel.
Recommended settings
Things to know
- •Slack's sidebar shows all channels, DMs, and workspace names — channel names like #layoffs or #salary-review are visible
- •Desktop notifications pop up from other channels while recording, potentially showing private messages
- •Slack Huddles auto-activate the microphone icon in the sidebar — can be confused with screen recording status
- •Thread panels open as overlays that partially cover the main channel view
Step-by-step
- 1
In Screenify Studio, select Custom Area and drag the region over Slack.
Drag the capture region to cover only the channel view or thread panel — exclude the sidebar entirely. This is the safest way to avoid leaking private channel names.
- 2
Before recording, disable Slack notifications: click your profile picture > Pause Notifications > 1 hour. This prevents DMs and channel messages from popping up during your recording.
- 3
Decide what to show. If recording a specific channel or thread, collapse the sidebar by clicking the workspace name area or dragging the sidebar edge to minimum width. This hides channel names, DMs, and workspace list.
- 4
If demonstrating Workflow Builder (Tools > Workflow Builder), expand the builder panel to full width. The builder UI has small form fields and dropdown menus that need screen space to be readable.
- 5
Start recording. Click deliberately — Slack has hover states, tooltips, and popup menus that appear and disappear quickly. Pause on each menu for 2 seconds so viewers can read the options.
Pro tips
Custom area capture is your privacy shield. Full screen or window capture shows the Slack sidebar with every channel name, DM name, and workspace. Custom area lets you crop to just the conversation panel. No one sees that you're in #job-hunting or have a DM from your therapist's scheduling bot.
AI Captions for async how-to sharing. Slack tutorials are typically shared IN Slack, where people scroll past videos on mute. Captions make your tutorial watchable without sound, directly in the Slack message preview.
Cursor highlight for button-heavy UI. Slack's message actions (emoji reactions, thread reply, bookmark, pin, more actions) are a row of 14px icons that appear on hover. Without cursor highlight, viewers can't tell which tiny icon you're clicking.
Record threads in expanded view. Click a thread, then click the expand arrow (top right of thread panel) to open it in a full-width view. Recording a thread in the side panel means content is cramped in a narrow column with 12px text.
Common mistakes
Recording with the sidebar visible. Your Slack sidebar is a map of your org's internal structure. Channel names like #exec-team, #layoffs-2026, #acquisition-due-diligence, and DM names of every person you talk to are all visible. Use custom area capture or collapse the sidebar.
Forgetting to pause notifications. You're recording a clean Workflow Builder tutorial when a notification pops up: 'Sarah: can we talk about the performance review?' Pause notifications before every recording session.
Recording a thread in the narrow side panel. Slack's thread panel defaults to ~300px wide. Text wraps awkwardly, images are thumbnailed, and code blocks are horizontally scrolled. Expand the thread to full width before recording.
Scrolling too fast through long channels. Slack message history scrolls infinitely. Viewers can't read messages that fly past at scrolling speed. If you need to show conversation history, scroll slowly or screenshot the key messages instead.
Related apps
Related guides
Record Async Meeting Updates
Remote team leads, project managers, and distributed teams who want fewer live meetings
Record Onboarding Videos
Engineering managers, HR teams, team leads, and operations staff who onboard new employees or contractors
Record Workflow Documentation
Operations teams, technical writers, process owners, and anyone documenting internal workflows for the first time
Record Tool Comparison Videos
Tech reviewers, affiliate marketers, YouTube creators, and consultants who evaluate software for clients
Record Slack with Screenify Studio
AI auto-zoom on clicks, instant captions in 50+ languages, cursor highlighting, and studio-grade export. Free plan, no watermark.
Try Screenify Free
