How to Delete a Slack Emoji (and Replace a Custom One)
To delete a custom Slack emoji, click your workspace name, choose Customize [workspace], open the Emoji tab, find the emoji and click the delete icon. Members can delete only emoji they added; owners and admins can delete any. How to replace one, remove packs, and what happens to old messages.
To delete a custom emoji in Slack, open your workspace's Custom Emoji page, find the emoji, click the delete icon at the end of its row, and confirm with Delete Emoji. Owners and admins get there from the Admin button in Slack's left rail: Admin > Edit workspace > Emoji. The page's address is your-workspace.slack.com/customize/emoji, so members can open it directly. The same Customize page has an Automated Messages tab, which is where Slackbot custom responses are set up. Members can delete only the emoji they added; Workspace Owners and Admins can delete any custom emoji. Built-in emoji such as 👍 cannot be deleted.
We tested it on 4 October 2026 in our own workspace (Slack web app, Free plan, as Primary Owner): we uploaded a test emoji, used it in a message and as a reaction, deleted it, then uploaded a new image under the same name.
How to delete a custom emoji in Slack
- Click Admin at the bottom of the left rail. (Older guides say to click the workspace name and choose Customize; in the current Slack that menu has no such item, and its Tools & settings > Admin tools entry notes that admin tools "have moved" to the sidebar.)
- Hover over Edit workspace and choose Emoji. The Custom Emoji page opens in a new browser tab.
- Search for the emoji. Each row shows the image, name, date added and who added it.
- Click the delete icon at the end of the row.
- Slack asks "Delete this emoji?" and says it "will delete the custom emoji for all members in your workspace". Click Delete Emoji. A note ":your-emoji: was deleted" appears at the top of the page.
- Delete the old emoji as above.
- Add the new image with the same name: smiley face in the message field, Add Emoji, Upload Image, same name, Save. Full steps are in how to add custom emoji to Slack.
The page also lists emoji Slack turned off by itself. Ours said "2 emoji have been deactivated because their names are used in the latest set of standard emoji": when a new Unicode emoji takes a name, the custom one with that name stops working.
Who can delete emoji in Slack
| What | Who can remove it |
|---|---|
| A custom emoji you added | You |
| Someone else's custom emoji | Owners and admins |
| An alias you added | You, if you can delete custom emoji |
| Any alias | Owners and admins |
| An emoji pack | Owners and admins, whole pack only |
| A standard emoji | Nobody |
If you do not see the delete icon, you did not add that emoji and you are not an admin. Ask an owner or admin.
How to replace a custom emoji
Slack has no "edit image" for an emoji. To replace one:
Messages and reactions that use the name then show the new image, as our test below shows. If you need a better-sized image first, the Slack emoji resizer and Slack emoji maker prepare one in your browser.
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How to remove an emoji pack
Owners and admins: open the emoji menu, click Add Emoji, open the Emoji packs tab, select the pack, and click Remove Pack. Slack does not let you remove single emoji from a pack. To back up your emoji before deleting them, see the download script in Slack emoji packs.
What happens to old messages
In our test, after Delete Emoji and a reload:
sgtest-del-1004, reloaded, and the old message and the old reaction both showed the new image.So replacing an emoji (delete, then upload with the same name) updates every past message and reaction that used it. If an emoji shows as a text code and you did not delete it, see Slack custom emoji not showing.
FAQ
Why can't I delete an emoji in Slack?
You can delete only emoji you added, unless you are an owner or admin. The delete icon is missing on other people's emoji.
Can I delete Slack emoji on my phone?
Open your-workspace.slack.com/customize/emoji in a phone browser. The Admin menu is in the desktop and web app.
How do I rename a Slack emoji?
Add an alias with the new name, or delete it and upload it again under the new name.
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