Sidebar and Slack

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Sidebar and Slack

    The Sidebar integration with Slack allows users from both platforms to communicate directly. It requires at least one participant to be an external-only user, meaning they do not have a corresponding sysuser record. Sidebar users must have a Slack account and authenticate through Slack to engage in conversations.

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    Key Features

    • Authentication: Sidebar users are authenticated in Slack to enable private channel chats.
    • User Differentiation: Slack users are identifiable by a Slack icon next to their names in discussions, though not in the activity stream.
    • Discussion Management: Sidebar users can add or remove Slack users from discussions, with a limit of 250 users in a private channel.
    • Message Synchronization: A job runs every 30 minutes to synchronize users between Sidebar and Slack based on matching emails.
    • Message Types: Users can send various messages, including text, images, emojis, and links to ServiceNow records.
    • Message History: Message history for Sidebar discussions is not preloaded in Slack group chats; only messages sent post-configuration are received.
    • Access Restrictions: ServiceNow's access to Slack messages is limited to those generated via the integration.
    • Domain Separation: Domain separation is not supported in the Slack integration, limiting configuration options.

    Key Outcomes

    This integration enhances communication efficiency for users operating across both platforms, allowing seamless message sharing and discussion management. It simplifies user interactions while maintaining clear distinctions between Sidebar and Slack users, ensuring effective collaboration.

    Sidebar's integration with Slack enables Sidebar users and Slack users to communicate with each other from their respective platforms.

    The base system Sidebar-Slack integration requires at least one participant is an external only user (a user that doesn't have a corresponding sys_user record).

    Authenticating Sidebar users in Slack

    A Sidebar user must already have a Slack account to communicate with a Slack user. Slack authenticates each Sidebar user to confirm that they have a Slack account. This authentication verifies that Slack can create a private channel chat that includes the Sidebar user's Slack account. If the Sidebar user has a Slack account but isn’t signed in, they’re prompted to sign in.

    Differentiating between Sidebar and Slack users

    To differentiate Sidebar users from Slack users, a Slack icon (Slack icon.) displays next to the Slack users' names. This icon is visible in discussion windows and search results, but does not appear in the activity stream.

    Table 1. Examples with Slack icon
    Discussion window with Slack icon Discussion window with Slack icon next to user name External One.
    All tab on the Discussion window with Slack icon Discussion window with the All tab selected and Slack icon highlighted.
    Discussion window with Slack icon next to search results Start a Sidebar discussion window with Slack icon highlighted next to two search results.
    Discussion info window with Slack icon Discussion info window, with Slack icon highlighted next to username External One.

    Adding users to a discussion

    Sidebar users can enter the partial or full name of a user that they want to add to the discussion. If the user exists in the system, the user's name appears and can be selected to be added to the discussion. Users who have access to Slack but not ServiceNow can be identified by the Slack logo in their avatar image. Slack users can add participants to the discussion by adding them to the group chat on Slack. Doing this automatically adds those users to the discussion in Sidebar.
    Note:
    A maximum of 250 users can be added to a Slack private channel.

    Synchronizing Sidebar and Slack users

    If Sidebar and Slack are integrated, a job runs every 30 minutes to synchronize the Sidebar and Slack users. If a Slack user's email matches a Sidebar user's email, the Slack user is mapped to the Sidebar user.

    Validating messages

    Messages that are sent from Slack to Sidebar are verified using Slack's signing secret.

    Sending messages between Sidebar and Slack

    After Sidebar and Slack are integrated, you can send these types of messages between the two applications:
    • Messages with plain text
    • Messages with images
    • Messages with emojis
    • Messages with URLs
    • Messages with attachments
    • Messages with links to ServiceNow records

    Replies made to messages in Slack are displayed as replies to the corresponding message(s) in Sidebar.

    Removing users from a discussion

    Sidebar users can remove a Slack user from a Sidebar discussion. When a Slack user is removed from a discussion, Sidebar and Slack users see a message that the user has been removed from the discussion. After a Slack user is removed from the discussion, they can still access the group chat on Slack and view past messages, but they can no longer participate in the discussion. If a Slack user leaves a discussion on their own, both Sidebar and Slack users see a message that the Slack user has left the discussion.

    Message history

    If the admin enables Slack group chats for a user, the message history of any Sidebar discussions that the user is already participating in aren't preloaded in the Slack group chat. In the Slack group chat, the user will only receive messages that are sent after the admin enables them to receive Slack group chats.

    ServiceNow's access to Slack messages

    ServiceNow's access to Slack group chats and messages is restricted to the ones generated as part of the Sidebar and Slack integration.

    Synchronizing of participants

    The discussion participants aren’t synchronized if the integration between Sidebar and Slack is changed multiple times.

    Figure 1. Synchronizing example
    What happens if you turn the Sidebar-Slack configuration off and on.

    Domain separation with Sidebar and Slack integration

    If Sidebar is integrated with Slack, domain separation is not supported on the Slack instance. As a result, the Set up button for Slack is inactive on the Settings page. For example, if you’ve configured two domains on ServiceNow but use only one Microsoft Teams instance, you can't partition the Microsoft Teams instance to have part of it point to one domain and the other part to another domain.