SlackBridge
Setup & Onboarding

Installing SlackBridge in Slack and linking your first channel

By SlackBridge Team · Last verified ·Applies to: Free, Pro

TL;DR. Click Add to Slack (or Continue with Slack on the sign-in page), approve SlackBridge's permissions on Slack's screen, and you land in the SlackBridge dashboard on the Free plan. Then connect the Microsoft Teams organization you want to talk to (Organizations, then Connect an Organization), get its Microsoft 365 administrator to approve SlackBridge, and link a Slack channel to a Teams channel (Linked Channels, then Link Channels). If your Slack workspace requires app approval, the install waits until an approver in your workspace accepts it.

The short version

Setup has three parts. How long the Microsoft part takes depends on how quickly the other organization's Microsoft 365 administrator responds.

  1. Install SlackBridge in your Slack workspace (Add to Slack).
  2. Connect the Microsoft Teams organization you want to talk to. Its Microsoft 365 administrator approves SlackBridge once.
  3. Link a Slack channel to a Teams channel in the dashboard.

Step 1: Install SlackBridge in Slack

  1. Click Add to Slack on slackbridge.com/install, or Continue with Slack on the dashboard sign-in page. Both start the same install.
  2. Slack shows SlackBridge's permission screen. Check that the workspace named on that screen is the one you want, then allow it. The permissions are listed and explained in What permissions does SlackBridge ask for, and why?
  3. You return to the SlackBridge dashboard at app.slackbridge.com. A new workspace starts on the Free plan (1 connected organization, 1 linked channel), and a setup checklist shows what is left.

The person who installs SlackBridge becomes the admin of the new SlackBridge organization. Anyone else in the workspace who signs in with Slack is an admin too if they are a Slack workspace Owner or Admin; everyone else gets standard access. Only admins can connect organizations, link channels and manage billing.

Each SlackBridge organization is tied to one Slack workspace. Installing in a second workspace creates a separate SlackBridge organization.

If your workspace requires app approval

Slack lets workspace administrators require approval before apps are installed. If your workspace does this, clicking Add to Slack lets you request the app instead of installing it. Once an approver accepts the request in Slack, Slack lets you know, and you click Add to Slack again to finish. Ask your Slack administrators who approves apps in your workspace.

Enterprise Grid. Who approves an app on Enterprise Grid depends on the app-approval policies your organization has set in Slack. If you are not sure, ask your Slack org administrators, or email support@slackbridge.com before installing.

Step 2: Connect the Microsoft Teams organization

  1. In the dashboard, open Organizations and click Connect an Organization.
  2. Enter a Teams-side name (shown in the invitation and on messages relayed from Teams). Under Slack Channel, keep the channel name SlackBridge suggests from the Teams-side name or pick an existing channel. Add at least one email address for someone at that organization under Notification Emails; each address receives a link to connect.
  3. Click Create Connection.

A Microsoft 365 administrator at that organization (Global Administrator or Privileged Role Administrator) then approves SlackBridge on Microsoft's own consent screen. What they see, and why it needs an administrator, is in What does my Microsoft 365 admin need to approve to enable SlackBridge?. For messages from Slack to reach Teams, the SlackBridge app also has to be in that organization's Teams app catalog; if it is not, the dashboard says so and points their Teams administrator to the instructions at slackbridge.com/downloads.

Step 3: Link your first channel

  1. Open Linked Channels and click Link Channels. The button is available once at least one connected organization is active.
  2. Choose Organization: pick the connected Teams organization.
  3. Link Channels: pick the Slack channel and the Teams channel.
  4. Set Direction: choose both directions, Slack to Teams only, or Teams to Slack only.
  5. Click Link Channels to create the link.

Slack public channels work straight away: SlackBridge joins the channel itself. You can also type a new name to create a new public Slack channel.

Slack private channels are hidden from apps until the app is a member, and apps cannot add themselves. In Slack, run /invite @SlackBridge in the private channel first, then refresh the list in the dashboard.

Workspaces with a lot of channels: the list may not show every channel. Type the exact channel name, or open the channel in Slack, click its name, choose Copy link, and paste the link into the dashboard; SlackBridge looks it up directly.

Teams private and shared channels need one extra step in Teams after you link them: see Can SlackBridge bridge a private or shared Microsoft Teams channel?

Check that it works

Each linked channel has a Send Test Message button in the Linked Channels table, which posts a test message into the Teams channel. Then send a real message from each side. If a channel shows Pending or Error instead of Active, the status note next to it says what is missing; My bridge stopped covers the common causes.

Stuck at any step? Email support@slackbridge.com.