57

Threads would be a very nice feature of Slack, except that they are way too narrow and I can't find any way to configure their width.

Does anyone know how to expand a thread to make it take up all the screen real estate (within Slack)? Zooming in doesn't change the narrowness. It just makes the fonts bigger. I want to collapse the channel discussion and have the thread occupy the full width of the slack message area. Not possible?

John Strong
  • 1,566
  • 1
  • 12
  • 17

6 Answers6

37

O.k., for relatively new users of Slack like me, you definitely can get a wider version of a thread, but you can't expand it directly from the thread in the righthand pane (I don't think).

What you have to do is click on All Threads in the lefthand menu pane. If you had channel content in the central message area before, it will be replaced with a list of discussions that include both channels and threads. Just scroll until you find the thread you want and then you can view it in a wider format and also continue the conversation in less cramped fashion.

John Strong
  • 1,566
  • 1
  • 12
  • 17
  • 10
    John is right. But that's not quite enough. The wide format in the `All Threads` only shows thread in which you participated. So to see a thread in which you did not participate, add a message like `widening` for example. Then it will be in your threads. – look Apr 12 '19 at 19:27
  • Now you can follow a thread without contributing to it, then it will appear in your "threads" list. – Allan Lewis Jun 18 '20 at 10:57
  • With hundreds of threads that I need to look at since my org switched to Slack this solution is more difficult than leaving the threads the way they are. – Oron Aug 19 '20 at 22:55
  • 1
    Resizing is now possible https://stackoverflow.com/a/64216532/1855126 – Derek S Feb 01 '21 at 20:21
18

This is not a solution, it is at best a "work around".

In my big-ish org there are literally hundreds of threads. There no nice way to find the thread you care about in "All Threads". There needs to be a way to navigate directly from the specific thread to that thread in "All Threads" or there needs to be a way to widen the thread display.

haktastic
  • 181
  • 1
  • 2
14

I noticed this week, seemingly without any announcements, that the slack app now natively supports resizing the "right-hand bar" where threads are typically rendered.

So, to answer the original question, drag it.

Hovering over the edge of the thread pane in Slack

Brad Johnson
  • 1,251
  • 15
  • 25
3

Yes, definitely using the All Threads is the solution.

You can get it in your All Threads by sending a message to the thread, but you can also get a Thread in your All Threads by following it from the vertical "..." menu on the original message or any of the thread messages. (This way you can avoid sending a distracting comment and taking up space in the thread.)

Sending a message to the thread, though, has the advantage of bringing it to the top of your All Threads, though, which makes it easier to find once you're over there.

Ian Cameron
  • 39
  • 1
  • 2
    That's a fine workaround, though not a solution. A solution might look like a button that says "view on all threads" and takes you straight to it. – laebshade May 27 '20 at 13:55
0

I find that if you change the width of your overall Slack window, then at certain widths you can change the width of the Thread pane specifically. At full-screen, I cannot resize the pane, but at 50% of my screen width, I can.

skybondsor
  • 725
  • 12
  • 18
0

As a workaround, if you "Mark unread" any message in a thread, it will move that thread near the top of Threads. You can then navigate to Threads to see it in a wider view.

However, once it's read and you navigate away, the thread will drop back down to its original location. You'll also be following the thread if you weren't already.

thinkterry
  • 550
  • 1
  • 7
  • 11