Slack Disable WYSIWYG Bookmarklet

Disables the WYSIWYG editor in Slack.

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 browser.js
2. Paste into the URL field of a browser bookmark
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

Chrome: Visit chrome://bookmarks/, drag and drop this bookmarklet in visible area of bookmarks bar at top so you can execute it anytime.

In the desktop app

Option A: Patch Mac desktop app

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

Option B: Manually execute script for Mac or other platforms

1. Open the slack app in Developer mode
   • On Mac: export SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU=true && open -a /Applications/Slack.app
   • On PC in a Powershell window (per user install): $env:SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU="true"; & "$($env:LOCALAPPDATA)\Slack\slack.exe"
   • On PC in a Powershell window (machine wide install): $env:SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU="true"; & "$($Env:ProgramFiles)\Slack Deployment\slack.exe"
   • 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.