Lists in Slack and Teams: Track Tasks Next to the Conversation
Tasks tend to get lost in chat scrollback. Slack and Teams each have a Lists feature for tracking them in rows, with owners and due dates. They are set up differently, and the limits are not the same. Here is what each help page says.
Miles Crawford
The quick version
In Slack, open Files from the Home tab, click the plus button and choose List. In Teams, open a channel, select Add a tab, choose Lists and create a list there. Slack lists start with four fields (Completion, Name, Assignee and Due Date) and offer table and board layouts. Teams lists are saved to SharePoint and show up as tabs on the channel page. Slack lists are marked as available on paid plans.
Slack: create a list and add items
Slack says you can start from scratch or from a template, and templates are available on desktop. You can also import a .CSV into a list on desktop, or download one from a list. Frontline Members cannot create lists. Each row is an item, and items can have subtasks with their own due dates and assignees. You can also add any Slack message to a list: open the message menu, choose Add to list, then pick a list or create a new one.
Slack: views, sharing and limits
Slack offers a table layout and a board layout, plus filters, sorting, hiding and grouping. You can save these as a view for anyone with access. By default a list is visible only to the people or channels you share it with, and desktop users can also set general access to view or edit within the organization. Assignees see their tasks under Assigned to you on the Lists page, and people added to a People field get an Activity notification if the list is shared with them. Slack says lists on the Pro and Business+ plans can hold up to 1,000 items and subtasks, and Enterprise Grid up to 5,000. At the limit the oldest items are archived automatically. A deleted list can be restored within 24 hours.
Teams: add the Lists app to a channel
Microsoft says team members create lists on the desktop or web version of Teams, from scratch, from a template, from an existing list, from a CSV or from an Excel workbook. On mobile you can view and edit lists but not create or add them. Guests cannot create lists. To add one, select Add a tab at the top of the channel, choose Lists, save, then choose Create a list. Added lists appear as tabs along the top of the channel page.
Teams: existing lists, links and storage
All Teams lists are saved to SharePoint, and you can open and edit them there too. You can add an existing list from another channel in the same team, from a different team, or from SharePoint, as long as it is stored in SharePoint. Personal lists are not supported. Microsoft warns that adding a list from a different team does not give your team members access to it. A list added by pasting a SharePoint link shows in the default view and your team can view and comment on it but not edit it. You can also paste links to a list, a list item or a form into a chat, and a file preview appears with the link.
Which one for what?
Our read: Slack lists fit a team that lives in channels and wants to turn a message into a tracked task in two clicks. Teams lists fit a team that already keeps data in SharePoint or wants one list shown as a tab. The two help pages do not compare features, so the comparison is our suggestion. For simple one-off nudges, see our reminders guide.
What to be careful about
- Slack lists are listed for paid plans. Slack's page says so under who can use the feature.
- Item limits apply. Slack lists archive the oldest items when they hit 1,000 (Pro and Business+) or 5,000 (Enterprise Grid), per Slack.
- Teams guests cannot create lists, and neither can mobile users. Slack Frontline Members cannot either.
- Check access when you reuse a Teams list. Microsoft says adding a list from another team does not share it with your members.
- Pasted SharePoint lists are view and comment only in Teams, and custom SharePoint views do not carry over.
Sources
Checked October 22, 2026. Steps and limits follow each product's own help articles. The comparison is our suggestion.