Slack Enterprise_ How to Connect and Collect

Slack is a team communication and collaboration tool. Onna integrates with Slack's Discovery API to extract all related data and metadata from entire Slack workspaces, specific user accounts, specific channels, and/or private/multiparty chats. The Discovery API does need to be enabled on your Slack Enterprise Grid Account if it hasn't already.

Note

If you created a Slack Enterprise authorized connection prior to August 22, 2023, and want to collect custom Emojis, you will need to set up a new authorized connection. Your existing authorized connections can remain as they are. With the new authorized connection, your existing connections will also be updated.

Slack Enterprise Considerations

Canvas

When collecting a Canvas from Slack Enterprise, the Canvas rendering in Onna does not include emojis or embedded Canvases. Additionally, we do not currently support the collection of inline comments or revisions.

Upload a Channel List

Prior to creating a collection in Slack you may want to consider having the Slack Administer export a CSV of the channels. If the channel list is very large this will allow you to select individual or smaller groups to expedite the load time. See Export Your Workspace Data.

Note

The ability to upload a channel list via CSV is not available by default. This option is available to customers with this feature enabled. Contact your CSM for more information.

Slack Enterprise Requirements

Before setting up a new sync using the Slack Enterprise connector you will need to have access to authorized connection credentials in Onna. To learn more about how to set up and share an authorized connection, visit the article, Creating and Managing Authorized Connections.

In order to set up an authorized connection for Slack Enterprise, you will need the following information:

• Slack Org Owner Account  - The credentials for the account are needed to establish an authorized connection. It is recommended to use a service account to establish the connection.

• Slack Discovery API - The Slack Discovery API must be enabled on the account. To enable the Slack Discovery API an Org Owner needs to email exports@slack.com to say they'd like to enable the Discovery APIs for their organization.

  Note

  Slack will promptly enable the org after verifying the email address matches an Org Owner. If Slack fails to respond, you can use the below URL to verify the status of the Discovery API: https://my.slack.com/services/export.

• To access certain features in Onna, such as Integrated Legal Holds, you need to have access to Slack Enterprises’ Legal Holds API.

How to Connect and Collect Using Slack Enterprise

Once you have the authorized connection credentials necessary, you can set up a new sync by following the steps below.

Creating a Non Custodian-Based Collection in Slack Enterprise

There are two ways to select channels for your collection:

• Select from source (default) — Channels are loaded directly from your Slack account. Follow Steps 1–8 below.

• Upload a CSV (feature flag required) — Channels are loaded from a Slack-exported CSV file. Follow Steps 1–4, then see Loading Channels via CSV before continuing to Step 7.

Step 1

1. Navigate to the workspace where you want to set up your sync.

2. Inside that workspace, click on the ‘+’ icon in the upper right corner of the screen to Add source.

Step 2

1. You will now see a list of all sources enabled for your organization. Find and select the Slack Enterprise source.

Step 3

You’ll now define the basic information for your new sync, including:

1. The name of your sync. (We will autofill this field with the name of your source, but you can change it)

2. The sync mode you’d like to use.

3. The start date for your sync.

   Note

   If you’re choosing a one-time sync you’ll enter a start and end date for your sync.

4. Optional: If you need to, you can switch the authorized connection credentials you want to use to set up the sync by clicking Switch account.

5. Once you’ve selected the right account, select the blue Continue as... button.

Step 4

Next, you will select the content you want to include in the sync. To do so you will:

1. Toggle the Custodian collection to Off.

2. Select the type of direct messages you’d like to include in your sync.

3. Select the type of channels you’d like to include in your sync.

4. Select Canvas to include canvases in your collection.

   Note

   Canvases that are part of a conversation will always be collected. Canvases are captured at the root level. If a list or canvas is shared via a direct message or channel, its comments are nested within the respective list or canvas, maintaining their connection to the parent conversation. If lists or canvases are standalone (not shared through a conversation), they act as the parent resource, with the comments included as subresources.  

   

5. Select Lists to include Slack Lists in your collection.

   Note

   Lists that are part of a conversation will always be collected. Lists are captured at the root level. If a list or canvas is shared via a direct message or channel, its comments are nested within the respective list or canvas, maintaining their connection to the parent conversation. If lists or canvases are standalone (not shared through a conversation), they act as the parent resource, with the comments included as subresources.  

   

6. Select Modern attachments to collect attachments from:

   • Google Workspace accounts with an authorized connection in Onna. Then, select the GWS authorized connection you'd like to use for the collection from the Account credentials dropdown.

   • Microsoft OneDrive accounts with an authorized connection in Onna. Then, select the GWS authorized connection you'd like to use for the collection from the Account credentials dropdown.

   

   Note:

   If the account you want to use is not in the 'Account credentials' dropdown, you can click Use another account. You will then be redirected to Authorized Connections to add new credentials. This will cancel your source creation and you will need to start the Slack collection workflow again once you've added new credentials.

7. Click the blue Next button.

   

Note

Customers with the CSV channel loading feature: After clicking Next, see Loading Channels via CSV before proceeding to Step 4.

Step 4

Your next step is to define the workspaces you want to include in your sync.

Note

This is screen will NOT appear if you are not performing a custodian-based collection and are only collecting only direct messages and multiparty messages.

1. Select the workspaces you want to include in your sync

2. Loading large numbers of Multi-workspace channels can take a significant amount of time across large enterprise accounts. For Multi-workspace channels you have the option to not load, load all, or load only those channels for selected workspaces:

   1. Do Not Load - This option will not load any organization or multi-workspace channels

   2. Load All - This will load all organization and multi-workspace channels independent of the workspaces selected

   3. Load only those for selected workspaces - This option will load all organization-wide channels, but filter the multi-workspace channels to include only those from the selected workspaces. In order to filter these channels, a number of requests need to be made, which causes this option to take the longest.

Step 5

You’ll now scroll down to the bottom of the Workspaces screen. At the bottom you will:

1. Check the box next to Collect channels shared with external partners to add external channels to your sync or leave unchecked to exclude them.

2. Check the box next to Sync future workspaces to sync workspaces added to your Slack account in the future or leave unchecked to to exclude future channels from your sync.

3. Click the blue Next button.

Step 6

If you did not load your channels from a list, your next step is to select the channels you want to include in your sync.

1. Select the channels from the list or click Select all to include all channels.

2. To sync future channels that are added, make sure the option to Sync future channels is checked.

3. Click the blue Done button.

Step 7

On the next screen, you will see:

1. All users and their email domains selected.

2. At the bottom of this screen, you will have the option to sync future users. To do so, check the box next to Sync future users from selected domains. When this option is selected, any user created in the future from the selected domain will sync into Onna.
   However, if you would like to add additional domains to sync future users, please reach out to the Onna Support team for additional assistance.

3. Click the blue Done button

Step 8

Your sync is now in progress and visible inside the workspace you added it to. For more information see How to Monitor Your Sync Status.

CSV Channel Upload

Note

This feature is not enabled by default. It is available to customers with this option turned on. Contact your CSM for more information.

When setting up a non-custodian-based collection, customers with this feature enabled have the option to load channels from a CSV file instead of selecting from source. This can be useful when the channel list is very large, allowing you to select individual channels or smaller groups to expedite load time.

To use this option, follow Steps 1–4 of Creating a Non Custodian-Based Collection, then continue with the steps below.

1. Toggle Custodian collection to Off and click Next.

   

2. Open the Channel Loading Method, select Channels definition from CSV file, and click Next.

   

3. Click Upload CSV.

   Note

   The Slack Administrator must have exported a channel list and placed the CSV file in an accessible location prior to this step.

   

4. After selecting your file, click Next.

   

5. Select the channels to sync for collection. You can select individual channels or all channels. Click Next when finished.

   Note

   When selecting channels from a CSV, the option to sync future channels is not available.

   

Once complete, continue from Step 6 of the main collection workflow.

Creating a Custodian-Based Collection in Slack Enterprise

Step 1

1. Navigate to the workspace where you want to set up your sync.

2. Inside that workspace click on the ‘+’ icon in the upper right corner of the screen to Add source.

Step 2

You will now see a list of all sources enabled for your organization. Find and select the Slack Enterprise source.

Step 3

You’ll now define the basic information for your new sync, including:

1. The name of your sync. (We will autofill this field with the name of your source, but you can change it)

2. The sync mode you’d like to use.

3. The start date for your sync. (Note: If you’re choosing a one-time sync you’ll enter a start and end date for your sync)

4. Optional: If you need to, you can switch the authorized connection credentials you want to use to set up the sync by clicking Switch account.

5. Once you’ve selected the right account select the blue Continue as... button.

Step 4

Next, you will select the content you want to include in the sync. To do so you will:

1. When performing a custodian-based collection, toggle to On.

2. Select the type of direct messages you’d like to include in your sync.

3. Select the type of channels you’d like to include in your sync.

1. Select Canvas to include canvases in your collection.

   Note:

   Canvases that are part of a conversation will always be collected. Canvases are captured at the root level. If a list or canvas is shared via a direct message or channel, its comments are nested within the respective list or canvas, maintaining their connection to the parent conversation. If lists or canvases are standalone (not shared through a conversation), they act as the parent resource, with the comments included as subresources.  

   

2. Select Lists to add Slack Lists to your collection.

   Note:

   Lists that are part of a conversation will always be collected. Lists are captured at the root level. If a list or canvas is shared via a direct message or channel, its comments are nested within the respective list or canvas, maintaining their connection to the parent conversation. If lists or canvases are standalone (not shared through a conversation), they act as the parent resource, with the comments included as subresources.  

   

3. Select Modern attachments to collect attachments from:

   • Google Workspace accounts with an authorized connection in Onna. Then, select the GWS authorized connection you'd like to use for the collection from the Account credentials dropdown.

   • Microsoft OneDrive accounts with an authorized connection in Onna. Then, select the GWS authorized connection you'd like to use for the collection from the Account credentials dropdown.  

   Note:

   If the account you want to use is not in the Account credentials dropdown, you can click Use another account. You will then be redirected to Authorized Connections to add new credentials. This will cancel your source creation and you will need to start the Slack collection workflow again once you've added new credentials.

   

4. Click the blue Next button.

   

Step 5

You’ll now add the users you’d like to include in your sync. You can do this by either:

1. Manually adding users' email addresses.

2. Loading users via a list or from a CSV by clicking Load users.

Step 6

If you select users from a list you will be directed to a screen where you can select the users you want to include.

1. Select all to include all users or select individual users.

2. Click the blue Next button.

Step 7a

Your next step is to define the workspaces you want to include in your sync.

1. Select the workspaces you want to include in your sync.

2. Loading large numbers of Multi-workspace channels can take a significant amount of time across large enterprise accounts. For Multi-workspace channels you have the option to not load, load all, or load only those channels for selected workspaces:

   1. Do Not Load - This option will not load any organization or multi-workspace channels

   2. Load All - This will load all organization and multi-workspace channels independent of the workspaces selected

   3. Load only those for selected workspaces - This option will load all organization-wide channels, but filter the multi-workspace channels to include only those from the selected workspaces. In order to filter these channels, a number of requests need to be made, which causes this option to take the longest.

Step 7b

You’ll now scroll down to the bottom of the Workspaces screen. At the bottom you will:

1. Check the box next to Collect channels shared with external partners to add external channels to your sync or leave unchecked to exclude them.

2. Check the box next to Sync future workspaces to sync workspaces added to your Slack account in the future or leave unchecked to to exclude future channels from your sync.

3. Click the blue Next button.

Step 8

Your next step is to select the channels you want to include in your sync.

1. Select the channels from the list or click Select all to include all channels.

2. To sync future channels that are added, make sure the option to Sync future channels is checked.

3. Click the blue Done button.

Step 9

Your sync is now in progress and visible inside the workspace you added it to. Learn more about How to Monitor Your Sync Status.

Bot & Block Kit Message Collection

Slack Block Kit is Slack's UI framework for composing structured, richly formatted messages. Unlike plain text messages sent by users, Block Kit messages are built from a series of "blocks" — individual components that define layout, meaning, and content hierarchy.

Block Kit is the standard format used by:

• Bots and automated workflows — task notifications, reminders, pipeline alerts

• App integrations — summaries from tools like Jira, PagerDuty, Salesforce, or GitHub

• System notifications — Slack-native alerts and status messages

• AI chatbot experiences — responses from Slack's built-in AI features and third-party AI apps operating inside Slack

Block Kit messages are no longer edge cases in corporate Slack environments. They represent a growing share of machine-generated and AI-assisted communication that may be relevant to legal review, investigations, or compliance matters.

For more information, see Slack Enterprise Bot & Block Kit Message Collection.

For a comprehensive technical overview of Block Kit, refer to Slack's Block Kit documentation.