Slack is one of the most popular collaboration platforms in the world that brings all your communication together. Conversations in Slack are organized in channels. You can create channels for your teams, projects, topics, or any other purpose. You can search through everything that’s been posted in channels or your messages. Slack also allows you to talk with your teammates over audio or video calls and share documents, images, videos, and other files.
This guide shows two ways of installing Slack on Ubuntu 20.04. Slack can be installed as a snap package via the Snapcraft store or as a deb package from the Slack repositories. It is not recommended to install both the Deb and Snap package on the same system.
Installing Slack as a Snap Package
The Slack snap package is distributed and maintained by Microsoft.
Snaps are self-contained software packages that include the binary all dependencies needed to run the application. Snap packages are easy to upgrade and secure. Unlike the standard deb packages, snaps have a larger disk footprint and longer application startup time.
Snap packages can be installed from either the command-line or via the Ubuntu Software application.
To install the Slack snap, open your terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the following command:
sudo snap install slack --classicThat’s it. Slack has been installed on your Ubuntu desktop, and you can start using it. Whenever a new version is released, the Slack snap package will be automatically updated in the background.
If you are not comfortable with the command line, open Ubuntu Software, search for “Slack” and install the application.
Installing Slack as a Deb Package
Visit the Slack for Linux download page and download the latest Slack .deb package.
Once the download is complete, double-click the file, and the Ubuntu Software Center will open. To start the installation click on the “Install” button. You may be prompted to enter your user password.
During the installation process, the official Skype repository will be added to your system. When a new version is released, you can update the Skype package through your desktop standard Software Update tool.
Starting Slack
In the Activities search bar type “Slack” and click on the icon to launch the application. You can also start Slack from the command line by typing slack.
When Slack is launched for the first time, a window like the following will appear:
From here, you can sign in to a workspace you are already a member of, or create a new workspace and start collaborating with your friends and colleagues.
Conclusion
Installing Slack on Ubuntu 20.04 Linux is a relatively straightforward process and will only take a few minutes.
For more information about how to use Slack, visit the Slack documentation page .
Feel free to leave a comment below.