Acting on items from Slack

When you have linked your Slack account and ticked the Slack channels you want, item updates arrive as a direct message from Scout. The message is not a notification you then act on elsewhere — its buttons do the real thing, with the same authority as the same buttons in the app.

What is on the card

• The client and the title, on the first two lines.
• A status line: the shared state — Open, Claimed, Handled, Dismissed or Settled — and the due date when there is one.
• Ownership, naming the team and person accountable.
• One line of evidence, with its source label — "GMAIL: Thread 'Re: Bandana proof v2' — last message is yours, Mon Jul 27. No reply since."
• The buttons. Open in Scout is always first; then whichever of Claim, Handled, Dismiss, Follow (or Manage follow) and Hide for me you are actually allowed to use on this item in its current state.
• Notification settings, on its own row, linking to your preferences.

The card carries one item and one line of evidence. It is a way to act, not a way to read a whole point — the full reasoning, every evidence row and the history stay behind Open in Scout.

Claim

Press Claim and you take responsibility for the item, exactly as in the app. There is no dialog. Viewers do not get the button.

Handled, with an optional note

1. Press Handled. Slack opens a dialog titled Mark handled.
2. It explains: mark the item on your Slack card handled for the workspace, and you can add a short close note.
3. Fill in Close note if you want to — it is optional, and holds up to 2,000 characters.
4. Press Handled to confirm, or Cancel.

Dismiss, with a required reason

1. Press Dismiss. Slack opens a dialog titled Dismiss for workspace.
2. It is explicit about what this is: dismiss this item for the workspace, a reason is required, and this is different from Hide for me.
3. Write the Reason. It is required — submitting an empty box is refused, here just as in the app.
4. Press Dismiss.

Viewers do not get Handled or Dismiss either. Members get them on their own work and their team's work; Owners and Admins on anything they can see — the same rules as working an item in the app.

Follow and Hide for me

Follow opens a dialog titled Follow settings: pick Follow or Stop following, then press Save. Hide for me takes effect straight away and is private — it removes the item from your own Inbox and brief, and changes nothing for anyone else.

The receipt card

After you act, Scout replaces the original card with a receipt-only card, so the same message cannot be pressed twice. The receipt shows:

• The item's title.
• Shared state — what the item is now, for everyone.
• Last shared change — who changed it, from which surface, and when.
• Your own private change, when there was one — for example "Your Hide for me change was recorded via Slack at …".
• What became of your press: "Your Slack action was recorded. The shared result is shown above." — or "Your Slack action made no new change. Scout already had that result.", or "Your Slack action did not apply because the item changed. The shared result is shown above.", or "Your Slack action could not be completed. Check the item in Scout."
• The closing line: this card is a receipt; open Scout for live status and further actions.

Two other receipts can replace a card without you pressing anything: "This Slack card has expired. Open Scout for current status and actions." and "This item is no longer available on this Slack card. Open Scout to check your current access."

When a card and Scout disagree

Trust Scout, not the card. A Slack card is a snapshot from the moment it was sent; the live state is always in the app. In particular:

• A card that did not update is not proof your action failed. Scout records the action first and replaces the card afterwards, and the replacement can be delayed or blocked without affecting the action. Check the item in Scout, and the delivery diagnostics if it keeps happening.
• A card that did update is not a second action. The receipt is a redraw, not another claim or another close.
• You can only act on your own card. A forwarded card, or one shown on somebody else's screen, will not work for a different person — Scout checks that the account pressing the button is the account the card was sent to.
• Permission is checked when you press, not when the card was sent. If the item moved to another team, or your role changed, the press is refused with an explanation rather than acting on stale authority.

Good to know

• Actions from Slack write the same immutable receipts as actions in the app; Settled records the surface as Slack.
• Slack item updates are always sent instantly. The hourly and daily digest choices apply to email only; quiet hours apply to both channels.
• There is no snooze button in Slack, and there never will be.
• Scout does not post into channels and cannot read them. Everything here happens in a direct message to you.