How to pin a message in Slack on Mac: desktop steps for the 2026 app

What a pin does in a Slack channel

A pin keeps one message near the top of a conversation. Slack puts pinned messages in a Pins tab, so people can find them without scrolling back through the channel. Pin the message people will need again, such as a meeting link, a decision, or a brief. You do not need to pin a message to keep it. Pins only make it easier to find later.

Each pin belongs to the channel or direct message where you made it. If the same message matters in another channel, pin it there too, or post a link to it. Pins in a DM stay in that DM, and they do not appear in a channel's list. Keep that in mind when you decide where your team should look for information.

Pin on the free plan and on paid plans

The menu changes with your plan. On the free plan, the pin option sits directly in the three dots menu. On Pro, Business+ and Enterprise plans, you hover over Organize first, and a second menu opens with the pin option. The label is the same in both places. The only real difference is one extra hover.

Your workspace admin can also confirm which plan your team uses. Plans can differ between workspaces you belong to, so check each workspace on its own. The steps stay the same inside each one. Only the depth of the menu changes.

Find and use the Pins tab

After you pin a message, open that channel or DM and find the Pins tab. Slack's help article says pinned items are added to this tab, so it is the place to check when a pin did not save. The Pins tab is also where you manage pins, including unpinning. Treat it as the single list of what your team has marked important.

Unpin a message and keep the list current

Unpinning removes a message from the Pins tab. Open the tab, hover over the message, click the three dots icon, and select Un-pin from channel. Slack's help article uses the same wording for DMs, so the steps stay the same across both. Unpin old items often. A long Pins list is harder to scan than a short one.

Use the P shortcut and where it stops

Slack's keyboard shortcuts page lists P as the key that pins or unpins a message. It works with a message in focus and has no modifier key, so you press the letter alone. The page does not explain how to put a message in focus. Test the shortcut in a quiet channel first. If P does nothing, use the menu steps above.

Pin a message in a direct message

Direct messages use the same menu, with one label change. On the free plan, the item reads Pin to this conversation. On a paid plan, the same item sits under Organize with that label. Pins in a DM appear in that DM's Pins tab. Use a DM pin for a note you want near the top of a one-on-one thread, such as a call link or a reminder. Shared work belongs in a channel, where more people can find it.

Why pinning fails and what the errors mean

Pinning can fail for a few reasons. You may lack permission to add pins to the channel. The item may not be in the channel you are pinning to. Slack's developer docs name these causes with the error codes restricted_action and not_in_channel. The desktop app may word these differently, so treat the docs as the closest official description.

Permission is set by the workspace. A workspace or channel setting may limit who can pin, and Slack's help article does not say who sets it. Ask a channel admin or workspace admin if the pin option never appears for you. Joining the channel fixes the not_in_channel case, so join it before you try again.

How many pins can a channel hold

Slack's pin help article does not give a maximum number of pins. The developer docs for pins.add return too_many_pins with the text Too many pins in channel, and they give no numeric limit either. You cannot count on a fixed number, so unpin old messages when you hit that error.

Do not confuse pins with tabs and folders. Slack's en-fi pin page says you can create up to 15 tabs for certain content types, and up to 100 items or folders per channel. Those numbers limit tabs and folders, not pins. Check the page before you plan a large cleanup of your channels.

Mistakes people make when they pin in Slack

• Looking for the pin option in the sidebar. The option lives in the message menu.
• Clicking the Organize label without hovering. The pin option opens only when the submenu appears.
• Trying to unpin from the message in the channel. Unpin from the Pins tab instead.
• Pinning in a channel you have not joined. Join the channel first, since the API returns not_in_channel in that case.
• Assuming P works everywhere. The shortcut page does not say where it works.

A worked example for a project channel

Say you run a project channel and want the current brief at the top. Open the message that holds the brief. Hover over it, click the three dots icon, and pick Pin to channel. Open the Pins tab to confirm it is listed. Later the brief changes. Unpin the old version from the Pins tab, post the new one, and pin the new message. Unpinning first keeps one current brief at the top of the list.

What this page does not cover

This page covers the Slack desktop app for Mac. Slack's pin help article gives desktop steps only, so I did not find verified web or mobile steps for pinning. The newest Mac release dated before today is 4.53.280, from November 3, 2026. Its notes do not mention pins. Slack's pin pages do not say whether a pin sends a notification, so this page does not answer that either.

Button labels can change between releases. If a label on your screen differs from this page, match the position instead. The item sits in the menu that opens from the three dots icon, and the wording should be close to what is written here.

Where to go next

If a pinned message is hard to find, search for it first. The steps are in how to search messages in Slack on Mac. If the pinned message started a conversation, follow the replies with how to view threads in Slack on Mac. For a wider view of the Mac app, read the Slack page.