Set a Reminder in Slack and Teams (They Work Very Differently)
A timed reminder, a saved message and an unread marker do different jobs. Slack documents reminder notifications from To-dos and messages. In Teams, Saved and unread help you return to content, while configured workflows can automate follow-up. Check the time, recipient and action before treating any of these as a scheduled alert.
Miles Crawford
Reminders in Slack: to-dos with a due date
Slack's reminders attach a due date to a to-do. When the time arrives, you get a notification and a badge on the To-dos and Activity tabs. To create one, click the To-dos tab in the sidebar, click Add To-do, enter the details, click Add reminder, and pick a time from the list or Custom for your own. On mobile, open To-dos from the Home tab, tap the plus sign, enter the details and choose a date and time.
The more useful version starts from the message itself. Hover over any message or file, click the three dots icon and choose Remind me about this, then pick a time. On mobile, tap and hold the message and tap Remind me. Slack's help also notes you can ask Slackbot to create reminders for you.
Channel reminders with /remind
For something the whole channel should remember, type /remind in the message field of that channel and follow the format /remind [#channel] [what] [when], for example /remind #marketing-team to submit expenses every Thursday. When the time comes, Slack posts a message to the channel with your reminder text.
A few limits from Slack's documentation: guests cannot create channel reminders, reminders can repeat by day (every Monday works) but not in time increments (every hour does not), and Slack recommends the American English date and time format for the best results. For anything more elaborate than a simple team nudge, Slack suggests a scheduled-message workflow instead.
Teams: save the message
Teams Saved is a reading list, not a date-and-time reminder notification. Hover over the message, select More options and choose Save this message. Once you have saved anything, a Saved section appears at the top of your list of chats and channels, and selecting a saved message opens the original conversation in a side pane so you see it in context. To clear one, hover and choose Unsave this message.
Two behaviors worth knowing: if the author edits a message after you save it, your saved copy reflects the edits, and if it is deleted, the entry stays in Saved marked with a note that the author deleted it.
Teams: mark it unread
Microsoft documents a message-level action: go to the top of a message, select More options, then Mark as unread. A separate chat-list action marks a chat unread. Neither selects a date or time for an alert. See the unread guide for channel and mobile routes.
Teams: inspect the workflow, not just its name
Microsoft documents running and creating Workflows from a message through More options or More actions. Depending on the workflow, you may need to supply a time, recipients or message content. A configured workflow can serve a follow-up need, but this does not establish that every account has the same ready-made reminder action.
Before activating one, inspect its trigger, action, destination and required access. If your organization restricts Workflows, use an approved task or calendar tool for the timed part and keep a link to the original message. That is our suggested fallback, not a claim that Saved will notify you at a chosen hour.
Scheduled sending is different again. Teams lets you compose a chat message and choose Actions and apps, Schedule message, a date and time, Continue, then Send. It sends that message at the chosen time; it is not a private reminder about an existing message.
Picking the right nudge
Our rule of thumb: for something only you need to do at a particular time, use a personal Slack reminder or a verified timed workflow or task tool. Use Teams Saved when a reading list is enough. For something the team needs, a Slack channel reminder or a scheduled message beats hoping everyone remembers. And if the follow-up is "reply to this person later," saving the message plus a quick note to yourself about what you owed them saves re-reading the whole thread. Our saving messages guide and scheduled messages guide go deeper on both.
Check the Trigger and the Undo Route
These checks are our suggestions, not results from a signed-in workspace test. Write down the actual time and destination rather than relying on a label such as later.
| Item | Check | Change or remove |
|---|---|---|
| Slack personal reminder | Date, time and the correct to-do | Edit reminder or clear its due date in To-dos |
| Slack channel reminder | Channel, text and repeat rule | Use /remind list; delete and recreate, not edit |
| Teams workflow | Trigger, action, recipient and access | Review its details; edit, turn off or delete as needed |
Slack says day-only reminders default to 9am in your time zone unless you change the default reminder time. If a deadline matters, choose an explicit time and check what was saved. Channel reminders cannot be edited; remove and recreate them when their text or timing needs changing.
What to be careful about
- Slack repeats are day-level only. You can repeat a reminder every Monday, but not every hour or every 30 minutes.
- Date formats matter for /remind. Slack recommends American English date and time formats when writing the command.
- Saved Teams messages mirror the original. Edits flow through, and a deleted message leaves a placeholder, so do not treat Saved as a private archive.
- Mark as unread is not timed. It changes unread state, not a date-and-time notification.
Sources
Checked October 28, 2026 against official help pages. We did not activate a workflow or test notification delivery in a signed-in workspace. Workflow availability and permissions can vary. The choice advice and check table are ours.