Slack App
The Slack integration allows you to connect ProdPad and Slack and use it as a bridge to add ideas, feedback, and onboard users.
This document will guide you through:
Setup
To set up the integration, head over to the Integrations section in ProdPad under your profile image. Under 'New Integrations' select Slack.
Give your integration a name and quick description and click on 'Create' to move to the next step.
You will then be prompted to authorize ProdPad to connect to your Slack account.
Important!
Make sure the email you have setup on Slack matches the email you have as a user in ProdPad.
Mapping
The first stage is to map ProdPad to Slack. This allows ProdPad to post notifications of any new ideas or feedback added over to Slack. Select the appropriate channels you wish to publish notifications to. If you only have one channel, you can choose the same one for both.
If you don't want any notifications to be posted, you can simply leave it as "none."
Notice: Shared and private channels are not currently supported.
As part of /prodpad mapwe also allow the admin to decide if the channel is mapped to a specific product in ProdPad. This means that any idea or feedback submitted will automatically be linked to that channel.
When mapping is applied this is the behaviour:
- If a channel is mapped to a specific product then new ideas and new feedback that are associated to that channel are pushed there when created.
- If the default push channel is mapped along with a product-specific channel then new ideas/feedback associated to the mapped product will show in both the default push channel and the product-specific channel
- If no default push channel exists, then new idea/feedback will be only sent to the mapped channel if associated to the product.
/prodpad map add to trigger the mapping dialog. To undo changes at any time, type
/prodpad map delete #channel.
Important! You can’t map a separate channel for ideas and for feedback (so both new ideas and feedback will go to the same channel).
Adding ideas
Adding a new idea from Slack
Important!
In order to use this command, users must have a registered ProdPad account. Their Slack and ProdPad emails must be the same or an API error will display.
The Slack integration works with slash commands. To add a new idea, simply enter /prodpad ideaor/prodpad [idea content]
Either command will prompt the Add Idea dialog, which you can use to fill out additional content including:
- Idea title
- Description
- Problem statement
- Value statement
Convert an existing message into a new idea
Ideas can be created from an existing message by hovering over the message and clicking the vertical ellipsis to prompt the menu, then selecting "Add as Idea" to the ProdPad app.
This will populate the dialog with the message content as an idea and any files associated to the message will be uploaded into ProdPad as well as an inline document and under the files tab. Only the first 100 items will show for products, tags and personas.
If you wish to map a product in ProdPad to a specific channel to ensure that any ideas created in that channel will be linked to that product, type /prodpad map addto trigger the mapping dialog and select the product/channel mapping.
To undo changes at any time, type /prodpad map delete #channel.
Adding feedback from Slack
Important!
In order to use this command, users do not need a ProdPad account.
Submitting new feedback from Slack
To enter a new piece of feedback, type /prodpad feedbackor/prodpad feedback [content]to prompt the feedback dialog.
Either command will allow you to enter:
- Contact name
- Feedback
- Products
- Personas
- Tags
Convert an existing message into new feedback
Feedback can be created for an existing message by hovering over the message and clicking the vertical ellipsis and then selecting "Add as Feedback" to the ProdPad app.
This will populate the dialog with the message content as a piece of feedback and any files associated to the message will be uploaded into ProdPad as well as an inline document and under the attachments section. Only the first 100 items will show for products, tags and personas.
If you wish to map a product in ProdPad to a specific channel to ensure that any feedback created in that channel will be linked to that product, type /prodpad map addto trigger the mapping dialog and select the product/channel mapping.
To undo changes at any time, type /prodpad map delete #channel.
If you would like the ProdPad Slack app to be invited to all channels in your Slack workspace; you can use the command
ProdPad Help & Settings commands
The following commands are available to request help from the ProdPad app:
/prodpad helpwill prompt the app to show you all available commands, including how to submit ideas, feedback, and additional settings.
/prodpad settings idea [on/off]will turn on or off the ability to add an idea via the Slack integration. This is to allow use in a community setting. Default is on.
/prodpad settings feedback [on/off]will turn on or off the ability to add feedback via the Slack integration. This is for admins who don't want to use feedback. Default is on.
/prodpad votes idea [on/off]will turn on or off the voting buttons on idea posted from ProdPad.
/prodpad votes feedback [on/off] will turn on or off the voting buttons on feedback posted from ProdPad.
Important: voting requires the user to be registered in ProdPad.
/prodpad search [content]will search for content within ideas.
/prodpad search_feedback [content] will search for content within feedback.
Important: Using search in a public channel will post the results in the channel for all users to see. If used in the DMs for the ProdPad Slack Bot, the results will be posted privately.
/prodpad dm_mentions [on/off]allows admin to decide whether mentions will be sent as DM's.
/prodpad metadata [on/off]will allow the admin to decide whether metadata and extended form options (products, tags, personas) are displayed when an idea or feedback is submitted.
/prodpad map [add/delete]will allow the admin to decide if the channel is mapped to a specific product in ProdPad. This means that any idea or feedback submitted will automatically be linked to that channel.
Syncing conversations and @mentioning users
When an idea, feedback, roadmap card or roadmap link is commented on in Slack this comment will be sync'd to ProdPad and show as a comment for the item. Any further replies in Slack will be added as a thread. Any comments made in ProdPad will be posted to the comment thread in Slack to keep users up to date.
If a user is @mentioned within a thread, they will receive a DM via Slack. Any replies to the DM comment will be populated in ProdPad and further replies will populate the Slack DM.
If a new comment is added on ideas or feedback outside the existing thread, these comments will not be synced.
All comments added on feedback from an unregistered user will appear as though from the integration owner.
Searching for items
To search for ideas, simply enter /prodpad search [content]and ask the bot to search for a particular term within ProdPad.
To search for feedback, type /prodpad search_feedback [content]
Limitations
Currently, not all functionality available in Slack Conversations translates to ProdPad discussions. The current limitations are: