Overview
Use the Clockwise for Slack integration to seamlessly communicate your meeting and work status with your team.
This Slack integration makes your work life easier in at least three ways:
- It can automatically update your status with your availability.
- It offers you and your teammates a preview of your day and your team’s day.
- It kills unwanted interruptions for deep focus with Do Not Disturb.
In this article, you'll learn how to:
- Set up the Clockwise for Slack app
- Use the Slack Status Sync
- Use the automatic Do Not Disturb
- Set up your daily forecast
- Set up flexible meeting notifications
- Remove your Slack sync
- Clockwise Slack App FAQs
How to set up the Clockwise Slack app
To set up the Clockwise Slack app, you need to first sign up for the Clockwise Chrome Extension. Once you have signed up for Clockwise, connecting to Slack is easy. There will be an onboarding tip card in the Clockwise feed the first time you sign up, or you can connect to Slack directly from Settings at any time.
If you are a part of multiple Slack organizations, Clockwise will only connect to the organization you specify. You can add another Slack account from Settings.
Revisit your Slack settings from inside the chrome extension, or by typing "/cw settings" to the Clockwise bot in Slack.
Set up your Status Sync
Clockwise lets you select between two levels of syncing your event status:
- Include calendar event titles - if you select this option, Clockwise will sync the full title of your meetings to your Slack status. If you mark an individual event as "private" we will not sync the title of that event. However, if your calendar is private to some or all people within your organization, Clockwise will still display the full titles of your events.
- Don't include calendar event titles - No event titles will be displayed. Only that you are "In a meeting" and the category of that meeting.
To access your Slack settings:
- Click on your settings in Clockwise by opening Google Calendar, navigating to the Clockwise panel, clicking menu, and selecting Settings.
- Scroll down and click on "Clockwise for Slack"
- You will then have the option to set your slack status settings
Clockwise automatically syncs your current calendar status to Slack in the form of an emoji with descriptive text. Clockwise will only sync events categorized in Clockwise. The different options for the statuses are below:
- 🗓 – In a "meeting category" Meeting (via Clockwise) (For example: 🗓 In an external meeting (via Clockwise))
- 💡 – Focus Time (via Clockwise)
- ⛔️ – Out of Office (via Clockwise)
- The current phase of the moon [🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔] – Before Working Hours or Outside of Working Hours (via Clockwise)
- Blank – no description, shows when you're in fragmented time, in a meeting that Clockwise has categorized as not a true meeting (a hold, travel time, etc), and on weekends.
Based on the meeting setup, you may also see this emoji in accompaniment with any of the above: - 🔕 Slack notifications are muted
Clockwise categorizes your time automatically. You can also customize the categorization of an event by clicking on the event and selecting a category from the drop-down under the event title. If you want to change the category of a meeting, you can do that from inside the Clockwise chrome extension.
How to set up automatic Do Not Disturb
Ever get distracted by Slack messages when you're in a meeting? Or when you're really trying to get work done? Clockwise for Slack will automatically put you into "Do Not Disturb" mode in Slack, so you don't see any Slack notifications during those times.
You can leave Do Not Disturb mode at any time by clicking on your user icon in Slack > Pause Notifications > Resume notifications.
Customize when you would like to enter DND mode from settings inside Slack (/cw settings) or inside the chrome extension.
To update your DnD settings from your Chrome extension:
- Navigate to your Clockwise settings by opening Google Calendar, navigating to the Clockwise panel, clicking menu, and selecting Settings.
- Scroll down and click on Clockwise for Slack
- Navigate to the option "Turn on Do Not Disturb"
- Make a selection of what you want to set for your Do Not Disturb settings.
Set up your daily forecast
The Clockwise Daily Forecast gives you a summary of your day.
Customize the time that you receive it – whether it's the evening in the prior day, or the morning before your day starts – from Settings > Integrations > Slack.
Set up flexible meeting notifications
If any of your meetings are marked as flexible, Slack is an easy way to stay up-to-date about meeting moves. See at a glance which meeting moved, why it moved, and what the benefit was to you and your teammates.
To set this up, navigate to Settings > "Integrations" > "Slack". Adjust the setting for "Receive summary of you flexible meeting updates" here to "yes".
Key things to know about uninstalling Clockwise for Slack:
- Removing your account will disable meeting status updates via Slack
- Un-syncing your Slack integration will not remove Clockwise functionality like Focus Time, flexible meeting moves, or color-coding functionality from your calendar. To fully disable all Clockwise functionality, you need to deactivate your account from the Settings tab. See how to do that here
- Please do not deactivate from the Slack store. There is a higher risk that you will cancel Clockwise for your entire org instead of just yourself.
Two ways to remove or stop Slack syncing:
Disconnect your Slack account directly in the Slack App:
1. Navigate to your Slack App
2. Open up the Clockwise app in Slack
3. Click on the Settings tab
4. Scroll through your options and click the Disconnect button
Remove your Slack Account from your Clockwise account:
1. Navigate to your settings in Clockwise by opening Google Calendar, navigating to the Clockwise panel, clicking menu, and selecting Settings.
2. Scroll down to "Integrations (Slack, Zoom, Asana)"
3. Scroll to the "Slack" section and Click "Disconnect Slack Account"
This operation will remove your Slack account from Clockwise and disable the Slack status updates from Clockwise. Your Clockwise account will still be active.
Slack sync FAQs
How do I temporarily override status set by Clockwise?
Manually set your status in Slack and Clockwise will send you a confirmation message of pausing status sync. Clockwise will resume syncing after the "Clear after" time you set in Slack
How do I change my status to not show meeting titles?
To hide meeting titles from your status:
- Go to Settings, select "Integrations" and navigate to the Slack section
- Adjust the settings from the first dropdown "
How do I disconnect Slack and Clockwise?
To disconnect Clockwise from Slack, access the Clockwise Settings menu and click on the trash can next to your connected Slack organization name.
What permissions do you request when I set up my Slack account?
Read our article on our Slack app's security to learn more about the specific permissions and why they are needed!
Which of the event categories will show that I am "In a Meeting" using the Slack Status sync?
If your meeting is categorized as any of the below, your Slack status will show that you are in a meeting:
- External attendees
- One-on-one
- Team sync
- Ad-hoc
- Other
Why is my Slack status still not syncing even though I have enabled it in Clockwise?
Please check to make sure you have not enabled Slack's G-Cal integration. It will prevent the Clockwise integration from working. Turning off Slack's G-Cal integration should fix the issue.
If you have any questions or feedback, please email us at support@getclockwise.com.