How to Get Your Team to Actually Use Custom Emojis
Start with a small set that fits real conversations, show where to find it, and ask what people understood. This is a suggested rollout plan, not a tested promise of adoption or a timed upload benchmark.
Miles Crawford
Check Who Can Upload Before You Plan the Launch
In Slack, owners can restrict who creates custom emoji. In Teams, admins can turn custom emoji off for the tenant and control upload and deletion through messaging policies. Check the actual controls in your organization before promising that everyone can contribute. A missing upload button may be a permission issue, not a broken image.
Teams custom emoji are available across the tenant, not only your project chat. Microsoft also notes that external recipients can view custom emoji sent to them. Do not upload confidential screenshots, personal details or a coworker's photo without permission. A small-team trial limits the announcement, not necessarily the asset's audience.
Choose a Small Set for Specific Moments
As a starting suggestion, choose three to five images for moments your team already has: celebrating a release, thanking someone, or acknowledging a message. That number is an editing choice, not a platform limit or an optimum established by research. Leave room to add requests later.
The party parrot pack 
is one celebration option. Browse the reaction set for other candidates. These are editorial suggestions, not rankings by workplace use. Keep approvals, ownership and deadlines in words when someone needs to act on them.
Test Finding the Emoji and Understanding It Separately
Slack supports both typing an emoji code and browsing the menu. Teams puts custom emoji in the Custom category. Show the route your teammates actually use rather than assuming everyone searches the same way. Try short names such as :release_cheer: instead of an exported filename, then ask someone who did not upload the image to find it. See the naming guide for a fuller test.
| Trial task | What to ask | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| Find the release celebration | Which name or menu would you try? | Rename it or show the picker route |
| React to "Please review by 3pm" | Does this mean seen, or a promise to review? | Write the commitment in text |
| Suggest a new image | Who can upload it, and who will see it? | Clarify permission and audience first |
These are fictional trial tasks, not user-test results. The useful outcome is finding a confusing name or meaning before it becomes a team convention.
Share a Short Announcement With an Example
Use a channel where this kind of announcement belongs. Include the names, intended meanings, picker route and a way to ask for changes. Replace the route below with the one you checked in your app.
We're trying three custom emoji this week: release_cheer for celebrations, thank_you for appreciation, and seen for acknowledgment only. Find them in [checked picker route]. Seen does not mean I've accepted a task. Please keep owners and deadlines in text. Reply here if a name is hard to find, a meaning is unclear, or you want an image changed.
This is a sample message to adapt, not evidence that an announcement produces adoption. Use the set in relevant conversations without asking people to react to every message. Keep a plain-text option for anyone who prefers it.
Review Before Adding More or Deleting Anything
After your chosen trial period, ask what people could find, what felt useful and what caused confusion. A week is one possible review point, not a proven adoption window. Do not infer zero use because you did not notice an emoji in the channels you read. Try a clearer name or explanation before deciding to remove it.
If removal is needed, check with the people who requested the image and someone with permission. Slack members can generally delete emoji they added, while owners and admins have broader deletion rights; organization permissions may restrict this. Teams has a separate deletion policy, and Microsoft says removal may take up to 24 hours to appear for everyone. The controls and permissions are not identical across the two platforms.
For more candidates, browse the emoji library. Add images because the team has a use for them, not to meet an upload target.
Sources and Limits
Platform behavior checked October 28, 2026. The rollout size, trial tasks and announcement are our editorial suggestions. We have not measured adoption, time saved or workplace usage for this plan.