How to Install Slack on Ubuntu 20.04

Collaboration platforms have become increasingly important in the digital age, and Slack is a well-known and modern tool. It is used to organize various communications in channels so that teams can work together and communicate when needed. Communication within this medium is well organized, making it the first choice for users. Users can form teams based on projects they are working on and Slack is always able to fulfill its communication purpose. Slack's search bar searches through the messages in an elaborate way and keeps the record for a longer period of time. Not only chat messages, but also the sharing of topics, audio, videos and attachments make slack popular among its users. It is not limited to professionals only, but is used by several people working in teams because it is a smooth and easy communication medium.

Slack is a modern communication platform for companies to replace e-mail. In this guide we will learn how to install Slack under Ubuntu 20.04. Slack can be easily installed on your system by following a few basic steps. Here we will use the snap package to install Slack, but you can also use the deb package, as both will help you achieve your goal.

Note: Users must not install both the Deb and Snap package on their systems.

To install slack simply Go to the bottom-left search bar on your screen and search Terminal. You can launch terminal by clicking on terminal icon.

Slack Installation

The terminal will be opened. Now, you need to install snapd package in your system. write the appended command, and then hit enter.

$ sudo apt install snapd

Note:

If the latest apt is not installed in your system then try using apt-get update && apt-get upgrade to get all of the available updates.

The system asks for a sudo user's password. Enter the password then, the installation will begin.

The installation of snapd will begin and this may take some time so don’t exit the terminal. Once installed, you can also verify the installation of snapd package by using cited below command. Type this command on the command line then press enter. The installed snap version will appear on your screen as shown in the appended below image:

$ snap version

Note: You cannot proceed with the installation of Slack unless you have installed snapd package in this method. So, while using this method make sure to install snapd package using the steps mentioned above.

 You can install the slack by using affixed command. You need to type this command on the terminal then press enter.

$ sudo snap install slack --classic

Note: The sudo user’s password might be asked by the system, if it does then simply enter your password in the allocated space and then proceed further.

Once you have provided the sudo user’s password, slack installation will begin as shown in the figure below. The package might take some time to get downloaded so don’t exit the terminal before the download has completed, otherwise the process of installation will be cancelled.

 After some time, you will see the message “Slack installed” on your computer screen, depicting that the desired application is now a part of your system’s applications.  

Once you get a clear indication that slack has been installed in your system, you can get benefitted by the functionality of slack. Now go back to the home screen.

Accessing the Slack application

Users can easily access the Slack application once it has been installed. Exit the terminal and go back to the home screen. Select the search bar option available on the home screed at bottom left. You will see a number of applications available over there. Type Slack, it will appear in the applications. Then double click on it.

Slack will begin to run, in case if you already have an account you can sign in directly. Otherwise, create your new workspace to collaborate with your peers. They have some pricing plans as well as some free account creation options, you can explore them all and make a choice of your own. Installing Slack on Linux Mint 20 is relatively straightforward process and users can enjoy this application by following the steps mentioned in the article.

Updating Slack

While installation, the latest version of each software gets installed in your system by default but just for the sake of verification, you can use following command to update slack updated.

$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/slack.list

This will make sure that the Slack installation is always updated automatically in case of a new version is released. This will keep the updated version in your desktop to meet all standards of software updates.

Conclusion

The tutorial shows the process of installing Slack, a collaboration platform in your Linux machines. While installing Slack make sure to install snapd package prior to it. You might need to update the current apt version as well. This snapd package is just one way to install the application, you can also use Deb package. Multiple workspaces in the world use Slack as their communication platform, and make use of Slack’s desktop notifications. The process elaborated above will assist you to easily launch Slack right from your tray.