How to Use the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool

Table of Contents

Overview

The U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool provides three options for creating your U-M Slack workspace, as well as the ability to edit existing workspaces you manage. The option you choose to create your workspace will depend on how you want to manage membership. This document outlines and guides you through using the tool.

Important: You must create a U-M Slack account at least 24 hours before attempting to create a Slack workspace.

Create an MCommunity Group Workspace

If you would like to create a Slack workspace whose membership is synced to an MCommunity group of your choice, which you own and have already created:

  1. Go to the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool.
  2. Click the green Create with MCommunity button.
  3. Select the appropriate college/business division from the drop-down menu.
  4. Enter a name for your new workspace in the field provided. (Names cannot be longer than 50 characters.)
  5. Enter a suffix for your workspace’s domain URL in the field provided.

Note: This will be used to construct the workspace URL, which is the web address people can use to access your Slack workspace. The URL will be "um-[dept]-[domain suffix].slack.com," where [dept] is the department you selected above and [domain suffix] is what you enter in this field. For example, um-lsa-workspace, where "workspace" is what you enter in this field. Domain suffixes cannot be longer than ten characters and can only have letters, numbers, and hyphens.

  1. Select the MCommunity group you would like to use to manage workspace membership from the drop-down menu. (You must create and own the MCommunity group before completing this form. You will only find the MCommunity groups you own listed here.)
  2. Select I Confirm from the confirmation drop-down menu.
  3. Click Submit.

Workspaces are created automatically but may take up to 24 hours to be available in U-M Slack. You will receive a Slackbot notification in U-M Slack once it is ready. You can access the workspace by going to slack.umich.edu, logging in with U-M Weblogin, and reviewing the list of workspaces. Alternatively, you can also access the workspace from the Slack desktop or mobile app after logging in to your U-M Slack account.

To check the status of your workspace creation request, refer to U-M Slack Workspaces You Manage.

Create a Canvas Course Workspace

If you would like to create a Slack workspace whose membership is synced to one or more Ann Arbor Canvas courses for the current term, for which you have a Teacher role:

  1. Go to the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool.
  2. Click the teal Create with Canvas button.
  3. Check the boxes beside each Canvas course for which you’d like to create a workspace.

Note: Workspace members will be managed by Canvas course rosters. You must have a Teacher role in the Canvas course before completing this form. This list only shows courses that have not yet had a workspace created. If a course is missing from this list, it may be that you or another instructor has already created the workspace.

  1. Enter a name for your new workspace in the field provided. (Names cannot be longer than 50 characters.)
  2. Enter a suffix for your workspace’s domain URL in the field provided.

Note: This will be used to construct the workspace URL, which is the web address people can use to access your Slack workspace. The URL will be "um-[term]-[domain suffix].slack.com," where [term] is the current academic term (e.g., FA24, WN25, SS25) and [domain suffix] is what you enter in this field. For example, um-FA24-ART101, where "ART101" is what you enter in this field. Domain suffixes cannot be longer than 10 characters and can only have letters, numbers, and hyphens.

  1. Select I Confirm from the confirmation drop-down menu.
  2. Click Submit.

Workspaces are created automatically but may take up to 24 hours to be available in U-M Slack. You will receive a Slackbot notification in U-M Slack once it is ready. You can access the workspace by going to slack.umich.edu, logging in with U-M Weblogin, and reviewing the list of workspaces. Alternatively, you can also access the workspace from the Slack desktop or mobile app after logging in to your U-M Slack account.

To check the status of your workspace creation request, refer to U-M Slack Workspaces You Manage.

Note: Any U-M faculty, staff, or student with an @umich.edu email address in any role in the course will be automatically synced to the workspace. For example, when students add the class to their course roster, they will also automatically gain access to the Slack workspace. Conversely, when they drop the class, they will lose access. You don't need to add or remove them yourself.

Create a Standalone Workspace

If you would like to create a Slack workspace whose membership is not synced to an MCommunity group or Canvas course:

  1. Go to the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool.
  2. Click the blue Create a Standalone button.
  3. Select the appropriate college/business division from the drop-down menu.
  4. Enter a name for your new workspace in the field provided. (Names cannot be longer than 50 characters.)
  5. Enter a suffix for your workspace’s domain URL in the field provided..

Note: This will be used to construct the workspace URL, which is the web address people can use to access your Slack workspace. The URL will be "um-[dept]-[domain suffix].slack.com," where [dept] is the department you selected above and [domain suffix] is what you enter in this field. For example, um-lsa-workspace, where "workspace" is what you enter in this field. Domain suffixes cannot be longer than ten characters and can only have letters, numbers, and hyphens.

  1. Select I Confirm from the confirmation drop-down menu.
  2. Click Submit.

Workspaces are created automatically but may take up to 24 hours to be available in U-M Slack. You will receive a Slackbot notification in U-M Slack once it is ready. You can access the workspace by going to slack.umich.edu, logging in with U-M Weblogin, and reviewing the list of workspaces. Alternatively, you can also access the workspace from the Slack desktop or mobile app after logging in to your U-M Slack account.

To check the status of your workspace creation request, refer to U-M Slack Workspaces You Manage.

Note: You are responsible for adding and removing individual members directly in Slack. You cannot add MCommunity groups as members. Members must be added as individuals using their @umich.edu email address.

Edit an Existing Workspace

The U-M Slack Workspace Creation tool allows you to make changes to your workspaces, including updating the workspace's name or adding an MCommunity group to a standalone workspace. You must be a Workspace Admin in the workspace to make changes to it.

You cannot change the workspace domain (URL) or type (MCommunity, Canvas, Standalone), remove or change an MCommunity group attached to a workspace, or delete the workspace.

Update workspace name

You can change the name of your workspace at any time. Names cannot be longer than 50 characters. (You cannot change the workspace domain name/URL.)

  1. Go to the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool.
  2. Find the workspace you want to update in the list and click Edit.
  3. Enter the new name in the field provided.
  4. Select I Confirm from the confirmation drop-down menu.
  5. Click Update Workspace.

Updates will be complete within 24 hours. The change will be reflected in your workspace once it is processed.

Add MCommunity group to standalone workspace 

If you want your standalone workspace to be managed by an MCommunity group, you can add a group that you own to the workspace. Moving forward, workspace members will be managed by this group. This is only available for standalone workspaces and not Canvas ones.

Caution: You cannot remove or change the MCommunity group after it has been added. This also applies to existing MCommunity workspaces.

  1. Go to the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool.
  2. Find the standalone workspace you want to update in the list and click Edit.
  3. Select the MCommunity group you would like to use to manage workspace membership from the drop-down menu. (You must create and own the MCommunity group before completing this form. You will only find the MCommunity groups you own listed here.)
  4. Select I Confirm from the confirmation drop-down menu.
  5. Click Update Workspace.

Updates will be complete within 24 hours. The change will be reflected in your workspace once it is processed.

Additional Resources

Last Updated
Wednesday, April 23, 2025