Slack Emoji Packs: Add, Download and Bulk Upload Them
Add Slack's 5 built-in emoji packs from Add Emoji > Emoji packs, or download our free 8-emoji work pack, tested in Slack. Steps, bulk upload and limits.
Slack has built-in emoji packs. Click the smiley face in the message box, click Add Emoji, open the Emoji packs tab, pick a pack and click Add pack; every emoji in it becomes available to the whole workspace. On 29 September 2026 the tab offered five packs. For more, download free emoji, such as the eight-emoji work pack and the five Halloween and holiday emoji below that we made and tested, and add them one by one or with a bulk uploader. Slack asks for square images under 128 KB, and GIFs can have up to 50 frames.
Slack's built-in emoji packs
| Pack | Made by | Emoji | What is in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slackbot | Slack | 9 | Slackbot faces: grinning, heart eyes, wink, star struck |
| Gratitude | Vaughn Fender | 13 | "Thank you" in 12 languages plus ASL |
| Hybrid Work | Jessica Walsh | 12 | afk, ooo, pto, commuting, working from home or the office |
| Alphabet | Rebeca Anaya | 60 | White and yellow letters, plus !, ?, # and @ |
| Remote Work | Jen Lewis | 14 | Faces for remote work, including a brb one |
Owners, admins and members with permission to add emoji can add a pack:
- Click the smiley face icon in the message field.
- Click Add Emoji.
- Click the Emoji packs tab.
- Choose a pack and click Add pack.
Pack emoji only work after someone adds the pack
Codes such as :alphabet-white-a: are not built into every workspace. Before we added the Alphabet pack, :alphabet-white-a:, :alphabet-yellow-a:, and the Hybrid Work pack's :afk:, :ooo: and :pto: all returned invalid_name. After we clicked Add pack, the six Alphabet codes we tried all worked as reactions. If a code from a pack does nothing for you, ask an admin to add the pack.
To take a pack out, open it from the same tab and click Remove pack. Slack confirmed "The Alphabet emoji pack has been removed from your workspace", and the codes stopped working. The pack view shows no way to delete single emoji from a pack. If the Add Emoji button is missing, your owner has limited who can add emoji; see how to add custom emoji to Slack.
Download a free work emoji pack
Slack's packs have no code review set, so we made one with our Slack emoji maker. Each file is 128 x 128 pixels and 3 to 11 KB.
| Emoji | Name to use | File |
|---|---|---|
| lgtm | :lgtm: | lgtm.png |
| ship it | :ship-it: | ship-it.png |
| on it | :on-it: | on-it.png |
| done | :done: | done.png |
| wip | :wip: | wip.png |
| blocked | :blocked: | blocked.png |
| ty | :ty: | ty.png |
| nice intensifies | :nice-intensifies: | nice-intensifies.gif |
We uploaded all eight to a test workspace on 29 September 2026 and used them on two messages. Every name was free, including :done: and :ty:. Short words such as "wip", "ty" and "lgtm" stay readable as reactions. "blocked" gets too small inline, so shorten it or use it only as a reaction. We removed the emoji and messages after the test. To make your own words or colours, open the emoji maker, pick Text to emoji, and download each file.
Download free Halloween and holiday Slack emoji
The built-in Halloween emoji in Slack are 🎃 :jack_o_lantern:, 👻 :ghost:, 💀 :skull: and 🦇 :bat:; there is no :pumpkin:. For a custom one, such as an animated BOO, download one of these five files. We made them with the Slack emoji maker on October 1, 2026, uploaded all five to our test workspace and used them in a message. Each is 128 by 128 pixels and under Slack's 128 KB limit.
| Emoji | File | Size | Suggested name |
|---|---|---|---|
| BOO, shaking | boo-intensifies.gif | 11 KB, 8 frames | :boo-intensifies: |
| TRICK OR TREAT | trick-or-treat.png | 6 KB | :trick-or-treat: |
| SPOOKY, party colors | spooky-party.gif | 12 KB, 12 frames | :spooky-party: |
| HO HO HO, bouncing | ho-ho-ho-bounce.gif | 20 KB, 12 frames | :ho-ho-ho-bounce: |
| OOO til Jan | ooo-til-jan.png | 5 KB | :ooo-til-jan: |
A prefix such as :hw- keeps a seasonal set easy to find, and to remove in November.
Holiday emoji codes
These are built into every workspace. We added each one as a reaction in our test workspace; all worked. :pumpkin: returned invalid_name again on October 6, so the Slack pumpkin is :jack_o_lantern:.
| Holiday | Codes |
|---|---|
| Halloween | 🎃 :jack_o_lantern:, 👻 :ghost:, 💀 :skull:, 🦇 :bat:, 🕷️ :spider:, 🕸️ :spider_web:, 🍬 :candy:, 🍭 :lollipop:, 🔮 :crystal_ball:, 🧟 :zombie:, 🧛 :vampire:, 🧙 :mage:, 🧹 :broom:, ⚰️ :coffin: |
| Christmas and winter | 🎄 :christmas_tree:, 🎅 :santa:, 🤶 :mrs_claus:, 🎁 :gift:, ☃️ :snowman:, ❄️ :snowflake:, 🔔 :bell:, 🌟 :star2:, 🦌 :deer:, 🍪 :cookie:, 🛷 :sled: |
| Thanksgiving | 🦃 :turkey:, 🍂 :fallen_leaf:, 🍁 :maple_leaf:, 🥧 :pie:, 🌽 :corn:, 🍗 :poultry_leg:, 🙏 :pray: |
| Hanukkah | 🕎 :menorah_with_nine_branches:, ✡️ :star_of_david:, 🕯️ :candle:, 🍩 :doughnut:, 🪙 :coin: |
| Diwali | 🪔 :diya_lamp:, 🎇 :sparkler:, 🎆 :fireworks:, ✨ :sparkles: |
| New Year | 🎉 :tada:, 🎊 :confetti_ball:, 🍾 :champagne:, 🥂 :clinking_glasses:, 🎆 :fireworks:, 🥳 :partying_face: |
| Lunar New Year | 🧧 :red_envelope:, 🏮 :izakaya_lantern:, 🐉 :dragon:, 🧨 :firecracker:, 🍊 :tangerine: |
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Cloud-based. No downloads. Works 24/7 even when your laptop is off.
Other places to get Slack emoji
| Source | What you get | How it gets into Slack |
|---|---|---|
| slackmojis.com | Thousands of single emoji, many animated, including party parrots and developer logos | Download, then upload |
| Pack sites such as emojibox.app | Curated sets: reactions, status, celebrations | Their own bulk-add flow |
| GitHub repositories | Zip files of themed packs | Unzip, then bulk upload |
| Your own images | Logos, faces, inside jokes | Make with the emoji maker, then upload |
Check the licence of logos and faces before you add them to a work workspace. Custom emoji are visible to everyone in the workspace, and in Slack Connect channels people from other companies can see them too. The Add Emoji dialog says Slack will try to resize an image that is too large; the emoji resizer lets you check the result first.
Bulk upload Slack emoji
Slack's Add emoji dialog takes one file and one typed name per upload. The Slack emoji bulk upload tool prepares a whole pack in your browser: it re-encodes each GIF under 128 KB, gives every file a name Slack accepts, and packs them into one zip. Its uploader, pasted into the console of a Slack browser tab, adds the files with the same emoji.add call the dialog makes. On 30 September 2026 it added 8 emoji to our test workspace in 33 seconds. A 271 KB GIF that Slack refused with "This image is a bit too big, even after resizing" went in after the tool re-encoded it to 98 KB.
allow pasting the first time.If you would rather install an extension, Neutral Face Emoji Tools adds a Bulk Emoji Uploader to https://your-workspace.slack.com/customize/emoji. On 29 September 2026 its Chrome Web Store listing showed version 4.0.0, last updated May 5, 2025; we did not run an upload through it. Either way the upload runs with your own Slack login, so if your owner restricts emoji, bulk upload fails the same way single upload does.
Download every custom emoji in your workspace
To move a pack between workspaces, or keep a backup, Slack's Web API method emoji.list returns the name and image URL of every custom emoji. It needs a token with the emoji:read scope, from a Slack app you create:
import os, pathlib, requests
token = os.environ["SLACK_TOKEN"] # bot or user token with emoji:read
out = pathlib.Path("slack-emoji")
out.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
emoji = requests.get("https://slack.com/api/emoji.list",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"}).json()["emoji"]
for name, url in emoji.items():
if url.startswith("alias:"): # aliases point at another emoji
continue
ext = url.rsplit(".", 1)[-1]
(out / f"{name}.{ext}").write_bytes(requests.get(url).content)
print("saved", name)The files come out named after their codes, so the folder is ready to drag onto the uploader panel in another workspace. Aliases are skipped because they have no image of their own. Emoji from Slack's packs count as custom emoji here: in our test, adding the Alphabet pack took emoji.list from 15 entries to 75, so the script would save the pack letters too.
Slack emoji pack FAQ
Are Slack emoji packs free?
Yes. The five built-in packs cost nothing, and our test workspace was on the free plan.
Why can't I add an emoji pack?
Your workspace owner has limited who can add custom emoji, or you are a guest. Ask an owner or admin.
What is the pumpkin emoji code in Slack?
:jack_o_lantern:. There is no standard :pumpkin:; Slack answers invalid_name unless your workspace added a custom one.
How do I delete a single emoji from a Slack pack?
The pack view only offers Remove pack. For emoji you uploaded yourself, see how to delete a Slack emoji.
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