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Where is Slack Catch up on desktop?

Slack's Catch up view lives in the mobile app. Here is where to find the same unread messages on desktop, and how to get an AI summary instead of reading them all.

Last updated

Short answer

Catch up is Slack's mobile view for unread messages. On desktop, the same messages are in Unreads: click Unreads at the top of your sidebar, or press ⌘ShiftA on Mac or CtrlShiftA on Windows.

If you would rather read a summary than every message, mention @catchup in any channel, thread or DM. See how it works

What is Slack's Catch up feature?

Catch up is a view in the Slack mobile app that shows your unread conversations one at a time. Tap Home, then Catch up, and you'll see a preview of your most recent unread message. Swipe right to mark the conversation as read and move on to the next one. If you swipe too quickly, tap Undo to bring the messages back.

Slack's help center describes the two views side by side: Unreads on desktop and Catch up on mobile. So there is no swipe view on desktop, but every unread message is still one click or shortcut away.

How to catch up on unread messages in Slack desktop

  1. 1

    From Home, click Unreads at the top of your sidebar, or press ⌘ShiftA (Mac) / CtrlShiftA (Windows).

  2. 2

    Don't see Unreads? Adjust your sidebar preferences to always show Unreads in your sidebar.

  3. 3

    Read through each conversation. Press Esc to mark a group of messages as read and move on.

  4. 4

    When you're done, scroll to the bottom and click Mark All Messages Read. Marked something by mistake? Click Undo to restore it.

Sorting and filtering options for unread messages are only available on desktop, and on paid plans you can filter unreads by your custom sidebar sections.

Keyboard shortcuts for Unreads

ActionMacWindows
Open Unreads⌘ShiftACtrlShiftA
Move focus to the message listF6F6
Move between messages↑↓↑↓
Mark a group of messages as readEscEsc
Mark a message as unreadOptionClickAltClick
Expand or collapse a group←→←→

Source: Slack Help Center, View all your unread messages.

What Unreads doesn't do

Unreads collects your messages in one place, but you still read them one by one. After a few days away, a busy channel can mean hundreds of messages to scroll through.

Slack has its own AI summaries, but they come with Slack's paid plans: conversation and thread summaries are included in Pro, and daily recaps in Business+ and Enterprise+. Compare Slack AI recaps and Catch Up.

Or let AI summarize it for you

Catch Up is a Slack app that summarizes conversations with AI. It works the same on Slack desktop and mobile, because the summary is posted right in Slack.

  1. 1

    In a channel, mention @catchup to get a summary of the last day that only you can see.

  2. 2

    Add a number to change the period, for example @catchup 3 for the last 3 days (up to 60).

  3. 3

    In a thread, @catchup summarizes the entire thread.

  4. 4

    In a DM with the bot, @catchup summarizes all the channels you picked with @catchup configure.

Read the full guide to summarizing a Slack channel or thread.

Catch up on Slack without reading every message

Mention @catchup in any channel, thread or DM and get a summary of what you missed. Per-workspace pricing from $10/month, no per-seat fees.

Try for free

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