Slack Workflow for Anonymous Posts

I’ve always been uncomfortable asking personal questions to people I trust, let alone people I don’t know. As I’ve worked harder in this area, there’s still things I’d like information on but I’m not comfortable asking my wife, family, or even close friends.

At work, we have a Mental Health & Wellness Slack channel. The team running it is providing great material in blog posts and live sessions with professionals. Another item we have is the ability to request help via anonymous posts. This allows you to ask a question and get information referrals, reassurance that you’re not alone in your feelings, or connections to support groups within the company.

I asked the channel how the anonymous post was configured but have not received a response. After searching the interwebs, and not finding anything, I was able to mock up one that works.

** Note ** – The posts to the channel will be anonymous. Any replies will not be. Also, the owner(s) of the workflow will be able to see who posted the questions so make sure this group is limited to the responsible owners of the channel.

Let’s start by opening Workflow Builder. Via the desktop Slack app, click the drop-down next to the Slack space name in the upper-left, select Tools, and then Workflow Builder

Click the Create button in the upper-right, give your workflow a name, and click Next.

To start the workflow we have users click the Shortcut button (lightning bolt) at the bottom of the Slack App. Click the Select button to the right of Shortcut.

Pick the Channel you want to use the Workflow in and add the name you want it listed as. Click Next when done.

The base workflow has been created. Now we need to add steps to it. Click the green Add Step button and select Send a form.

The form is what the anonymous poster will see when submitting their question. Add a title to the form, language for the question, length of the question (long or short), and make it required. Make sure to uncheck “Send submitted response to a channel or to someone in a DM.” That will send the question and not be anonymous. Click Save when done.

Now that the question is captured it needs to be sent anonymously to the channel. To do this, click Add Step again and this time choose Send a message.

Next to Send this message to:, click the drop-down and select Channel where workflow started. The Message text field can be customized as needed. To get the question asked in the previous step, click Insert a variable just under the text field and select Response to: “What question do …”. You can see the form output at the bottom of the step. Once you like the format, click Save.

The workflow is completed and should look like the following. If you want to change the icon of the workflow, click the Settings tab and then Edit in the Icon section.

To publish the workflow, click Publish in the upper-right. A message is sent to the channel letting everyone know the workflow has been added. To test it out, click the Thunderbolt, type in a question, and see it show up in the channel.