> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.affinity.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custom Message Formatting For Slack And Microsoft Teams Integrations

> Help center reference

<Note>
  **Reference** — lookup information.
</Note>

To make sure your customizable messages on our native Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations are formatted correctly, please follow the guidelines below.

**Important Callout**: If you're on the new **Advanced** or **Enterprise** tiers, and trying to create a custom Slack message for field updates made in Affinity, check out Affinity's new [Automation Builder](/s/article/How-to-set-up-automations-in-Affinity). Please note that Affinity's Automation Builder is not supported for Microsoft Teams at this time.

## Entity

There are three objects that are accessible in configuring the Slack/Microsoft Teams message: Person, Organization, and Opportunity. It is critical that you understand which type of entity the integration is enabled for.

## Person

Here are the valid expressions for a **Person** entity:

* `{entity.first_name}`
* `{entity.last_name}`
* `{entity.primary_email}`

## Organization

Here are the valid expressions for an **Organization** entity:

* `{entity.name}`
* `{entity.domain}`
  * Wrapping the above with \<> appended with `https://` will create a clickable link in Slack (not available in Microsoft Teams):
    * `<https://{entity.domain}>`
    * `<https://{entity.domain}|{entity.name}>`
    * `<https://{entity.domain}|Custom Text Here>`

## Opportunity

Here are the valid expressions for an **Opportunity** entity:

* `{entity.name}` **Note**: [Affinity Data](/s/article/Affinity-Data) fields and [enriched](/s/article/Enriched-Global-and-List-specific-Fields) fields are not accessible for custom message formatting for opportunities.

## Entity Associations

These are the people/organizations associated with an entity (opportunity, organization, person).

* For a people list, you can access the organizations associated with that person using `{entity.organization_names}`.
* For an organization list, you can access the people associated with that organization using `{entity.person_names}`.
* For an opportunity list, you can access both the associated organizations and people using `{entity.organization_names}` and `{entity.person_names}`, respectively.
  * For both of those associations, the output will be a comma-separated list of the names of the organizations and people (see example below):
    * `{entity.organization_names} => Stripe, Dropbox, Affinity`
    * `{entity.person_names} => Mimi Lee, Calvin Lee`

## Fields

These are the fields you can change to trigger a response or fields you would like to have populated in a message. Think of these as columns in your list. You can reference the fields by the **Index**, in the same order as your input in the list in the previous step.

* For example, if you added `[12345, 678910]`...
  * You can reference the field `12345` by `field[0]`
  * You can reference the field `678910` by `field[1]` It's also important to double-check the field value **Type** as it changes the way you can access the actual value. See below on how to access the value of each field by type:

| Field Type                    | Option                     | Variable                          |
| ----------------------------- | -------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Text                          | Entire Text                | `{field[0].value}`                |
| Number                        | Choice of number in column | `{field[0].value}`                |
| Date                          | Entire Date                | `{field[0].value}`                |
| Ranked Dropdown (e.g. Status) | Dropdown Text              | `{field[0].value.text}`           |
| Managed Dropdown              | Dropdown option            | `{field[0].value}`                |
| Person                        | First Name                 | `{field[0].value.first_name}`     |
| Person                        | Last Name                  | `{field[0].value.last_name}`      |
| Person                        | Primary Email              | `{field[0].value.primary_email}`  |
| Organization                  | Name                       | `{field[0].value.name}`           |
| Organization                  | Domain                     | `{field[0].value.domain}`         |
| Location                      | Street Address             | `{field[0].value.street_address}` |
| Location                      | City                       | `{field[0].value.city}`           |
| Location                      | State                      | `{field[0].value.state}`          |

## Text Formatting

Please note that not all formatting is compatible with Microsoft Teams and Slack.

| Format Types                      | In Affinity                                                                                       | In Slack                                   |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| Italic                            | *italics*                                                                                         | *italics*                                  |
| Bold                              | \*bold\*                                                                                          | **bold**                                   |
| Strikethrough                     | ~~strikethrough~~                                                                                 | strikethrough                              |
| Line Break                        | line\nbreak                                                                                       | linebreak                                  |
| Link to website                   | `<https://{entity.domain}>`                                                                       | [https://affinity.co](https://affinity.co) |
| Link to website with company name | `<https://{entity.domain}&#124;{entity.name}>`                                                    | Affinity                                   |
| Link to website with custom text  | `<https://{entity.domain}&#124;Custom Text Here>`                                                 | Custom Text Here                           |
| Link to Person's Profile          | `<https://subdomain.affinity.co/persons/{entity.id}&#124;{entity.first_name} {entity.last_name}>` | John Doe                                   |
| Link to Organization's Profile    | `<https://subdomain.affinity.co/companies/{entity.id}&#124;{entity.name}>`                        | Company XYZ                                |
| Link to Opportunity's Profile     | `<https://subdomain.affinity.co/opportunities/{entity.id}&#124;{entity.name}>`                    | Opportunity 123                            |
| Notify the team                   | `<!here>`                                                                                         | @here                                      |

* Replace the "**subdomain**" portion here with your actual [Affinity subdomain](/s/article/How-to-find-your-Affinity-subdomain). If you see "[https://companyxyz.affinity.co/dashboard](https://companyxyz.affinity.co/dashboard)" on your web browser, then "**companyxyz**" is the subdomain.

## Example

**Sheet View**

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/support-affinity/b2pkAVjLgjCg4Fme/images/integrations-slack-teams/custom-message-formatting-for-slack-and-microsoft-teams-integrations/custom-messaging-1-1.jpeg?fit=max&auto=format&n=b2pkAVjLgjCg4Fme&q=85&s=b1543a6292389724cc1c8075f99db8b3" alt="Custom Messaging 1 1" width="1544" height="656" data-path="images/integrations-slack-teams/custom-message-formatting-for-slack-and-microsoft-teams-integrations/custom-messaging-1-1.jpeg" />

**Integration View** `{field[1].value.first_name} just closed {entity.name} for ${field[0].value}!`

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/support-affinity/3k_xt_h7CNCglWwr/images/integrations-slack-teams/custom-message-formatting-for-slack-and-microsoft-teams-integrations/1.jpg?fit=max&auto=format&n=3k_xt_h7CNCglWwr&q=85&s=15a5ef07ea94bf2435f4edf9bc13e127" style={{ width:"65%" }} width="1810" height="1172" data-path="images/integrations-slack-teams/custom-message-formatting-for-slack-and-microsoft-teams-integrations/1.jpg" />

**This will translate into:** "Calvin just closed Affinity for \$10000000!"

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/support-affinity/3k_xt_h7CNCglWwr/images/integrations-slack-teams/custom-message-formatting-for-slack-and-microsoft-teams-integrations/2.jpg?fit=max&auto=format&n=3k_xt_h7CNCglWwr&q=85&s=91438f796326d70c88713235558cd583" style={{ width:"84%" }} width="968" height="390" data-path="images/integrations-slack-teams/custom-message-formatting-for-slack-and-microsoft-teams-integrations/2.jpg" />