Slack Disable WYSIWYG Bookmarklet

Disables the WYSIWYG editor in Slack.

Update

As of 2019-12-02 Slack supports reverting back to its previous editor! Instead of using this repo, please enable this feature via Slack's preferences:

1. Click your workspace name in the top left
2. Choose Preferences
3. Select the Advanced tab
4. Check the box next to Format messages with markup

Many thanks to everybody who submitted PRs, discussed issues, and used the tools in this repository. I'd like to think that our efforts played a role in helping Slack recognize the demand for the previous editor. Props to Slack also for ultimately making the right decision in letting us choose which editor to use.

The contents of this repository and the remainder of this README are left intact for reference, but should not be used going forward.

Motivation

On 2019-11-20 Slack rolled out a new version of the editor. This editor features WYSIWYG functionality, which shows all message formatting inline in the text box.

As of this time, Slack does not allow users to disable this functionality and revert back to the plaintext markdown editor. However, Slack has publicly stated that such a feature is in the works. But in the meantime, you can use these browser extensions, bookmarklets, or scripts to temporarily disable all WYSIWYG A/B tests for your platform, which should restore the old editor functionality.

Usage

Browser Extension/Add-on

Find Disable Slack Wysiwyg for both Chrome and Firefox:

• Chrome Web Store
• Firefox Browser Add-ons

For bugs, feedback, and source, visit the extension repo pocc/no-wysiwyg or mention @pocc.

Browser bookmarklet

1. Copy the contents of index.js
2. Paste into the URL field of a browser bookmark, and prepend the text with javascript:
3. Navigate to a Slack workspace in that browser
4. Execute the bookmarklet to disable the WYSIWYG editor
5. Repeat each time you reload slack

In the desktop app

Option A: Patch Mac desktop app

Download and run bin/patch-desktop-app, courtesy of @dbalatero.

• Ensure SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU=true is either exported in ~/.profile or set in the application launcher

Option B: Manually execute script

1. Open the slack app in Developer mode
   • On Mac OS X: export SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU=true && open -a /Applications/Slack.app
   • On Windows in a Powershell window (per user install): $env:SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU="true"; & "$($env:LOCALAPPDATA)\Slack\slack.exe"
   • On Windows in a Powershell window (machine wide install): $env:SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU="true"; & "$($Env:ProgramFiles)\Slack Deployment\slack.exe"
   • On Ubuntu with Gnome (using Slack launcher):
     • edit /usr/share/applications/slack.desktop
     • replace Exec=/usr/bin/slack %U with Exec=env SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU=true /usr/bin/slack %U
   • On other OS's: ensure the SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU environment variable is set to true before opening the Slack app.
2. Right-click in the app and Inspect element
3. Copy the contents of index.js
4. Paste into the Console tab
5. Repeat each time you reload slack or switch to a team for the first time

In Franz

Franz is an Electron-based messaging aggregator application.

1. With Slack opened inside Franz, use the keyboard shortcut to open up the inspector:

   • Mac: ⌘ command + ⌥ option + I
   • Windows/Linux: ⌃ ctrl + ⇧ shift + I

2. Open up the console tab, and run the following to open up the current Slack instance's dev console:

   $(".app__service .is-active webview").openDevTools()

3. In the newly opened console window, paste in the script from index.js.