I've built a Slack automation that posts notifications to a channel when user requests are fulfilled. I would love it if it would "@" mention the requester to notify them when it's posted, but in testing I found that while it would show the display name (e.g. "@Anna"), it isn't activated and doesn't trigger a normal Slack notification. Has anyone found a way to make this work?
Solved
Slack Automation with Display Names
+12Best answer by Stephen_Orr1
Sadly, no, still doesn't work. It doesn't show the chevrons, but it still doesn't "mention" the user. I tried it both with the user name hard-entered into the text of the automation and using a variable (which is what I really want), and neither worked. 😩
Hmm could it have anything to do with Slack changing @mentions from user name to display_name? Airtable docs recommend using the Slack member ID if the user name isn't working:
https://support.airtable.com/docs/send-a-slack-message-action#mentioning-slack-users
edit: this page also mentions dynamically generating the @mention ID using a formula field which sounds like what you're after
+18Hi @Anna11,
Try sending the Slack display name as <@Anna> instead of @Anna
https://api.slack.com/reference/surfaces/formatting#mentioning-users
-Stephen
+12Hi @Anna11,
Try sending the Slack display name as <@Anna> instead of @Anna
https://api.slack.com/reference/surfaces/formatting#mentioning-users
-Stephen
Sadly, no, still doesn't work. It doesn't show the chevrons, but it still doesn't "mention" the user. I tried it both with the user name hard-entered into the text of the automation and using a variable (which is what I really want), and neither worked. 😩
+18Sadly, no, still doesn't work. It doesn't show the chevrons, but it still doesn't "mention" the user. I tried it both with the user name hard-entered into the text of the automation and using a variable (which is what I really want), and neither worked. 😩
Hmm could it have anything to do with Slack changing @mentions from user name to display_name? Airtable docs recommend using the Slack member ID if the user name isn't working:
https://support.airtable.com/docs/send-a-slack-message-action#mentioning-slack-users
edit: this page also mentions dynamically generating the @mention ID using a formula field which sounds like what you're after
+12Hmm could it have anything to do with Slack changing @mentions from user name to display_name? Airtable docs recommend using the Slack member ID if the user name isn't working:
https://support.airtable.com/docs/send-a-slack-message-action#mentioning-slack-users
edit: this page also mentions dynamically generating the @mention ID using a formula field which sounds like what you're after
Aha, amazing, the Member ID works! So, for anyone else looking to do the same, the syntax is <@{Slack member ID}>. Thank you, @Stephen_Orr1 !
+18Nice, glad it worked! Please feel free to mark my earlier reply as a solution if it was helpful here
Thanks! 🙂
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