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Slack guide

How to create a Slack workspace

· 5 min task · Tested

By

Marta Kowalczyk writes about design and creative apps for Appcyclopedia, working on a MacBook Air, an iPhone 16 Pro and a Galaxy A55.

  • Web
  • macOS
  • Windows
  • iOS
  • Android

Short answer

Go to slack.com/get-started and choose to create a new workspace. Enter your email address, or sign in with Google or Apple, and type the confirmation code Slack emails you. Select Create a Workspace and follow the prompts to name it, add your name and invite people.

Use your work email for a company workspace: an address on your company’s domain makes it easier for colleagues to join and for the workspace to stay with the company.

Below: the steps, inviting your team, the first channels, and what being the Primary Owner means.

How to set up a new Slack workspace, start to finish

To create a Slack workspace, confirm your email first, then give the workspace a name and invite people. The first group creates it, the second gets the team in.

  1. Create the workspace

    Go to slack.com/get-started

    Open slack.com/get-started in a browser and choose to create a new workspace. In the Slack app, start the setup and pick the option to create a workspace.

  2. Enter your email, or sign in with Google or Apple

    Type your email address and continue, or sign in with Google or Apple. For a company workspace, use your work email on the company’s domain.

  3. Type the confirmation code

    Slack emails you a code. Open the email and type the code into the page. If it does not arrive within a few minutes, check spam.

  4. Select Create a Workspace and follow the prompts

    Select Create a Workspace. Slack asks for the workspace name, usually your company or team name, and your own name and photo. You become the Primary Owner.

  5. Get the team in

    Invite your teammates

    Slack offers to invite people as part of setup. Enter their email addresses, or copy an invite link to share. You can skip this and invite people later from the workspace menu.

  6. Create your first channels

    Click the + in the sidebar and choose Channel to add a few channels for your main topics, such as a project or a team. New members can join the public ones themselves.

A five-person design studio moving off email: one person creates a workspace called “Studio North” with their work email, invites the other four by email, and creates channels for #clients and #admin. Within an hour, project talk has moved out of inboxes.

Create the workspace, then the first two or three channels before inviting people: they arrive somewhere with a shape, not an empty room.

More about Slack

Team chat organised into channels, with a free plan that shows 90 days of history.

Read Slack’s profile →

If creating the Slack workspace gets stuck

The confirmation code never arrives

Check spam and the address you typed. Ask for a new code, or sign in with Google or Apple instead.

Your company already has a Slack workspace

Slack may show existing workspaces for your email domain. Join that one instead of creating a second, which splits the company in two.

Invited people did not get the email

Check the addresses, ask them to look in spam, or share an invite link from the workspace menu instead.

What you set up as the workspace creator

Creating a workspace makes you its Primary Owner, the role with the most control.

You decideWhere
The workspace name and URLDuring setup, and in settings later
Who is invitedThe invite step and the workspace menu
Which channels exist at the startThe + in the sidebar
Who else can manage itMember roles in the admin settings

Make one or two trusted people admins early: a workspace with a single owner stalls when that person is away.

Free plan limits to know from day one

A new workspace starts on the free plan. Everyone can chat, share files and use channels, but only the last 90 days of messages and files show, and content older than a year is deleted. If the history will matter, plan for a paid plan before the 90 days are up.

What to do after creating your workspace

Invite the team, create a few channels for the main topics, and post a welcome message saying how you want to use Slack.

Create the workspace with your work email, add the first channels and invite the team. The guide to creating a channel in Slack covers public and private channels in detail.

Creating a Slack workspace: common questions

Is creating a Slack workspace free?
Yes. A new workspace starts on the free plan, which shows the last 90 days of messages. Paid plans keep the full history.
What is a Primary Owner?
The person who created the workspace. They have the highest level of control, including billing and deleting the workspace, and can transfer the role.
Can I use a personal email?
Yes, for a club, family or side project. For a company, a work email on the company domain is better.
Can I be in more than one workspace?
Yes. You can join or create several and switch between them in the Slack app.

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Test log

Followed the steps? Tell us how it went on your device. Entries appear here after we check them.

  1. Worked Every step, start to finish · Elias Brandt and Daniel Okonkwo Team
I tested this
How did it go?

Steps performed and confirmed 1 day ago

When you need this

If you want your own Slack for a team, a club or a project, create a workspace at slack.com/get-started and invite people. You become its Primary Owner.

Describes
Slack in a browser and the desktop app for Mac and Windows · Slack app for iPhone and Android
Takes
About five minutes
Platforms
Web · macOS · Windows · iOS · Android
Published
22 October 2026
Facts checked
10 October 2026

Steps repeated and verified by and on

  • Elias Brandt: the Windows and web steps on a ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Windows 11 Pro).
  • Daniel Okonkwo: the Mac steps on a MacBook Pro (macOS 27.0.1), the iPhone steps on an iPhone 15 (iOS 27.0.1) and the Android steps on a Pixel 9 Pro (Android 17).

Limits quoted here come from Slack’s documentation and were not tested.

Sources: Slack Help, Create a Slack workspaceSlack Help, Create a channelSlack Help, Slack plans and features

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