Slack Sidebar Sections: Create, Sort, Share and Fix Them
Slack sidebar sections are private folders for your channels and DMs on paid plans. We checked the Free plan menu: Create a section is marked PAID, and the default Active only filter hides channels with no activity in 30 days.
Slack sidebar sections are private folders in your own sidebar that group channels, DMs and apps, such as "My team", "Clients" or "Read later". Custom sections are a paid-plan feature. Only you see your sections, unless you share one.
We opened the sidebar menu in our own Free workspace on October 1, 2026. The gear next to the workspace name (Manage my sidebar) shows Create a section with a PAID tag. Clicking it opens Slack's help article instead of creating a section. The filter and sort options in the same menu work on Free.
What the Free plan sidebar has
On Free your sidebar has fixed groups: Starred, Channels, Direct messages and Agents & apps, under Threads, Huddles, Drafts & sent and Directories. You can drag a conversation into Starred, which is the one folder you control on Free. If a workspace moves from a paid plan to Free, Slack's help center says custom sections fold back into these groups. The other Free changes are in Slack free plan limits.
How to create sections in Slack (paid plans)
These steps are from Slack's help center, because our test workspace is on Free.
Desktop
- On the Home tab, hover over Channels in your sidebar.
- Click the three dots and choose Channel section. On some versions the same option is Create a section under the gear icon at the top of the sidebar.
- Enter a name, or pick one of Slack's suggestions, and pick an emoji if you like.
- Click Create, then drag channels or DMs into the section.
- Open a channel or DM and tap its name in the header.
- Tap Move (or Star if you have no sections yet).
- Tap New Section, name it, pick an emoji and tap Create.
Mobile
To move many channels at once, open Manage my sidebar, choose Bulk manage conversations, tick the conversations, click Move to... and pick a section.
Sort and filter options
The sidebar menu lists five filters and three sort orders. We read them from the menu above:
| Filter conversations by | What stays in the sidebar |
|---|---|
| Active only (default) | Conversations with new activity within the last 30 days |
| Unreads | Conversations with unread messages |
| Mentions | Conversations where you were mentioned |
| All | Every conversation you are in |
| Custom by section | Each section uses its own filter (useful on paid plans) |
Sort by A–Z, Recency or Priority. On paid plans each custom section also has its own filter and sort in its three dots menu, plus Rename and Delete section.
Never appear "away" on Slack again
Cloud-based. No downloads. Works 24/7 even when your laptop is off.
Why channels disappear from the Slack sidebar
The default filter, Active only, hides any conversation with no new activity in the last 30 days. We saw it in our own workspace: #all-slack, the general channel we are a member of, was missing from the sidebar. When we opened it by its link it appeared, and it was hidden again once we left it.
To bring every channel back, open Manage my sidebar, Filter and sort, and pick All. The full fix list is in Slack channels disappeared from sidebar.
Other reasons a section looks wrong:
Are Slack sections private?
Yes. Slack's help center says custom sections are visible only to you and do not change what coworkers see. Naming a section "Ignore" or "Boss" is safe. The channels inside it are not private; a section only changes where a channel sits in your own sidebar.
Share a section with your team
To give new teammates the same sections, share one (paid plans):
If you can manage user groups, you can also attach a section to one: in Directories, User Groups, turn on Add group channels as a section in Home. One section per user group; see Slack user groups.
FAQ
Are custom sections free in Slack?
No. On the Free plan the sidebar menu shows Create a section with a PAID tag. Free workspaces get Starred, Channels, Direct messages and Agents & apps.
How do I reorder Slack sections on mobile?
You can move a conversation between sections from its header with Move. Slack's help center does not describe a way to reorder the sections themselves on mobile.
Stop Jiggling Your Mouse.
Join hundreds of remote workers who never worry about their Slack status. Set it up once, stay green forever.
Related Articles
Slack Daily Standup Without a Paid Bot: /remind, Workflow Builder and a Script
We set up a weekday 9:30 standup in a free Slack workspace three ways: a /remind reminder, Workflow Builder, and a short script that posts the questions and collects the thread replies.
Slack Tabs Under a Channel Name: What Each One Is and How to Edit Them
We added, renamed, moved, hid and deleted the tabs under a channel name in Slack web on the Free plan, and compared them with the tabs in a DM.
Leave Multiple Slack Channels at Once: 4 Ways Timed, Plus a Script
Slack has no bulk leave button. We made 12 test channels and left them with the sidebar menu, the channel browser, /leave and a 30-line script, and timed each way.