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Mac notification guide

Give Slack its own notification sound on your Mac

So a direct message from a teammate doesn't sound exactly like every other banner on your Mac — and a mention can be loud while the rest stays quiet.

TrillMark flashing the screen in Slack's color, labeled with its name — so you know it's Slack without looking.
TrillMark flashing the screen in Slack's color, labeled with its name — so you know it's Slack without looking.

Why Slack sounds like everything else on your Mac

macOS has one alert sound. Every app that posts a notification borrows it, and the only per-app control System Settings gives you is a single “Play sound for notifications” switch — on or off. There's no way to say “Slack should sound different from Mail.”

So when your Mac chimes, you still have to stop, look, and read to find out whether it was a Slack DM, a calendar reminder, or a newsletter. For a chat app you check all day, that adds up.

What you can do without TrillMark

How TrillMark makes Slack unmistakable

TrillMark watches the notification banners macOS already shows and reacts to them. Add Slack, give it a sound you'll recognize instantly, and pick a color — say purple. From then on, when Slack notifies you, you hear its sound and see a purple flash on screen labeled “Slack,” so you know it's Slack without breaking focus.

Because TrillMark can read the notification's text, you can go further with a rule: play a louder, more urgent sound only when a Slack message mentions you or is a direct message, and let ordinary channel chatter use a soft tone — or no sound at all. One app, two levels of attention.

It reads that text only on your Mac, only to decide how to react, and never sends it anywhere.

Set it up in about a minute

  1. Open TrillMark and add Slack (it's in the popular-apps list, or add it from a recent alert).
  2. Give it a sound you'll know by ear — pick one of the built-in tones and preview it right in the list.
  3. Pick a color for Slack and choose a full-screen wash or a quiet edge band. TrillMark labels the flash with the app's name automatically.
  4. Optional: add a rule — “when the message contains my name” — with a louder sound, so mentions stand out from the rest.
  5. In Notification settings, turn off the system sound for Slack (TrillMark's first-run setup walks you through it) so you hear only the sound you chose.

TrillMark is launching soon

Give Slack its own sound and a colored, labeled flash. Leave your email and I'll let you know the moment it's ready.

Questions about Slack

Can I set a custom notification sound for Slack on Mac without extra software?

Not a truly custom one. Slack has its own small set of notification sounds and lets you control which messages notify you, but every Slack alert still uses the same sound, and macOS only lets you switch an app's notification sound on or off — not change it. To give Slack a distinct sound that stands apart from your other apps, you need something like TrillMark that reacts to the banner.

Can TrillMark alert me only for Slack DMs and mentions?

Yes. TrillMark can read a notification's title and body, so you can add a rule that plays a specific sound only when a Slack message mentions you or is a direct message, while regular channel messages use a softer sound or none. It reads that text only on your Mac and never sends it anywhere.

Does TrillMark replace Slack's own notification settings?

No — they work together. Keep using Slack to decide which messages notify you at all; TrillMark then gives those notifications a distinct sound and a colored, labeled flash so you can tell Slack apart from everything else.