How To Add GIFs To Slack

December 19, 2022

While Slack is best known as a work platform, sending or receiving a plain text message can be quite boring, and you may feel like talking to a robot. To add a fun element and maintain a playful environment while making conversations, you can add GIFs to your Slack messages.

However, since Slack doesn’t have an integrated GIF app, you need to add one, such as Giphy or Tenor. After that, sharing GIFs with your workmates is as easy as pie.

How to Add GIFs to Slack?

There are mainly three ways you can send GIFs in Slack. You can integrate a GIF app like Giphy to search for a GIF and share it. Alternatively, you can upload an existing one from your PC or paste a GIF link from the web.

Integrate and Use a GIF Service

Integrating a GIF service is perhaps the most common way of using GIFs on Slack. This way, you get access to a massive collection of GIFs in one place. First, you integrate a GIF service into your slack account. Then, you can search for various GIFs by typing a command and sending it to other group members.

For demonstration purposes, we will be using one of the most popular GIF services, GIPHY.

Here’s how you can Integrate the GIF service:

Launch the Slack app.
Click More in the left sidebar and select Apps.
Search for “Giphy” and click Add.
Click Add to Slack on the next redirect page in your browser.
Next, click Add Giphy Integration. If you search for other GIF services, click Add [GIF service] Integration.
Adjust the Integration Settings according to your preferences. You can set what type of gif you receive based on your audience and whether you want the gif preview before sending it.
Click Save Integration.

Here’s how you can Use the app to send GIFs:

Now that you have add Giphy to Slack, go to one of your Slack channels or DMs.
Type “/giphy” and click /giphy [text] option to activate the giphy command. If you use a different GIF service, search for its name instead of giphy.
Then, enter the text you want to search for related to your GIF and press Enter.
Click the Send button to send the GIF. You can also click Shuffle if you like to see another GIF.

Paste a GIF Link

Did you find an exciting GIF you found on the Internet? Well, you can share it on Slack. Alternatively, you can specifically search for GIFs on google and send them to your group members on Slack.

Right-click on the GIF you found online and select Copy Image Address.
Now, go to the channel or direct message where you want to send it.
Right-click on the Message box and select the Paste option. Now, you can see the preview of the GIF.
Click the Send button.
Hover over the GIF and click the little cross button to remove the GIF preview. And select the link and press the Delete/Backspace key to remove it.

Upload GIF From Your PC

If you have some GIFs already saved on your computer, you can send them to others in the Slack app. Here’s how to do it.

Select the channel where you want to send the GIF.
Drag and drop the GIF file directly into it.
Alternatively, double-click the plus icon to browse and upload the GIF from your system.
Press Enter to send it.

How to Remove the GIF App from Slack?

If for some reason, you don’t want to use the app, you can disable it temporarily or remove it completely from Slack.

Launch the Slack app and select the workspace where you want to disable/remove the app.
Click your workspace name in the top left corner and select Settings & administration > Manage apps.
After Slack redirects you to a webpage, select the Installed Apps tab and click the GIF app you want to remove.
Then, click Open in App Directory on the right side.
Select Remove to remove the app from Slack. Alternatively, you can click Disable to stop the app from loading.