You're deep in focus work. Spotify is playing the perfect concentration playlist. Then — knock brush — Slack pings. And again. And again. Three channels, two DMs, and a thread notification in thirty seconds. You want to mute Slack but keep your music. macOS says: mute everything or mute nothing.
Slack's notification sounds are one of the top audio complaints for remote workers on Mac. They're designed to get your attention, which is exactly the problem when you need to concentrate.
Option 1: Mute notifications in Slack itself
Slack has a "Pause notifications" feature:
- Click your profile picture in Slack's sidebar
- Click "Pause notifications"
- Choose a duration (30 min, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc.)
This suppresses notification badges and sounds for the selected duration. You can also mute individual channels by right-clicking → "Mute channel."
Limitation: This is all-or-nothing per channel. You can't make Slack quieter — only fully silent or fully on. And if you forget to unpause, you miss messages after your focus session ends. It also doesn't suppress Slack's in-app sounds if you have the app open.
Option 2: Turn off Slack sounds in macOS notifications
Go to System Settings → Notifications → Slack. Toggle off "Play sound for notifications."
Limitation: This removes all Slack notification sounds permanently (until you turn it back on). And it only affects macOS-level notifications — if Slack plays sounds through its own audio engine, the notification setting might not catch all of them.
Option 3: Use a Focus mode
Create a "Focus" or "Work" Focus mode in System Settings → Focus. Add Slack to the "Silenced" list. When you activate the Focus mode, Slack notifications are suppressed.
Limitation: Focus modes suppress notifications visually and audibly, but they don't give you fine-grained volume control. You can't say "Slack notifications at 10% volume" — it's either fully allowed or fully silenced.
Option 4: Per-app volume control (the real fix)
What you actually want is simple: turn Slack's volume down to 10-15% while keeping everything else at normal levels. Slack pings are audible if you're listening for them, but they don't interrupt your flow. Music stays at full volume. Calls stay at full volume.
SoundDial gives Slack its own independent volume slider. Set it to whatever level works for you — or mute it entirely with one click. When you're ready to pay attention to Slack again, unmute it and the volume returns to where it was.
The ideal Slack workflow
- Focus time: Slack at 10% or muted. Spotify at 40%. No interruptions.
- Available time: Slack at 40%. Notifications are noticeable without being startling.
- Meeting time: Slack muted. Zoom at 100%. Auto-ducking handles the rest.
Save each of these as a volume profile in SoundDial and switch between them with one click. Better yet, use auto-ducking — when a call starts, SoundDial automatically lowers everything (including Slack) and restores it when the call ends.
Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store — €14.99 one-time purchase, no subscription, macOS 14.2+.