How to make a helpdesk shortcut channel in Slack
A helpdesk channel in Slack is a great way to handle internal IT requests, collect feedback, or triage requests. It provides a central place for people to submit requests and for the helpdesk team to manage them.
Here's how to setup a Slack helpdesk channel
Create a new Slack channel
First, you'll need to create a new Slack channel.
Click the plus icon next to "Channels" in the left sidebar
Click the small plus arrow Enter a name like "it-requests" and add a description
Click "Create" to create the channel
Set a name and description
Change Slack channel posting permissions
Next, you'll need to change the posting permissions for the channel.
Slack channels can be configured to only allow certain users to post messages. This is useful for helpdesk channels where you want to limit who can post messages to keep things organized.
Note: Changing channel permissions is only available if your have the Business+ plan or greater in Slack
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Here's how to change the posting permissions:
- Open the settings by clicking the down arrow next to it's name.
Open Slack channel settings - Navigate to the settings tab and select edit on the posting permissions section.
Choose the edit button - Select admins only
Changing posting permissions to Admins only
Once you've limited the posting permissions, the chat box will be disabled for other non admin users. However, they'll still be able to start threads on messages.
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In the next section, we'll go throw what needs to be done to get the Slack shortcut (lightning bolt) setup.
Add a helpdesk shortcut workflow
Open the workflow builder in Slack
It's located in the tools submenu from the top left hand workspace dropdown (see screenshot).
Open workflow builder Choose templates from the top navbar
Slack workflow templates Choose the #it-requests channel you created above and hit "Next"
Slack helpdesk shortcut workflow setup Slack will open up the workflow steps for your helpdesk shortcut.
Slack helpdesk shortcut workflow step After making adjustments, make sure you hit publish.
Publishing a Slack workflow
Using the shortcut from Slack channel
Open the shortcut menu
Slack helpdesk shortcut menu Click the helpdesk shortcut
Using the helpdesk shortcut Slack will open a form for you to fill out.
Slack helpdesk shortcut form
Creating a helpdesk rotation
Install Tellspin
Click "Add to Slack" on Tellspin's home page
Slack will prompt you to approve some permissions. Tellspin follows the "least privileged" principle, only requesting permission it absolutely needs to function.
Tellspin will send a welcome message
Click "Create a schedule" button
Onboarding message in Tellspin You can also make a new schedule from Tellspin's
Home
screen.Insert the @mention in your helpdesk message workflow step.
When the message is posted in Slack, Tellspin will contact the person on rotation via Slack's built-in contact methods.
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