How to translate Slack messages, and your reply, with AI
Double-click a message in the Slack app, or press Translate under it in Slack on the web, and BetterSend shows it in your language, in any of 44. Explain says what an idiom or a short reply means. To answer, write in your own language, press Improve, pick a tone and replace your draft with natural English. Nobody has to install anything in the workspace, and it works on every Slack plan.
By Rubens Jr
In the Slack app on Mac or Windows
For the Slack desktop app, where most teams spend the day.
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Download the BetterSend desktop app for macOS or Windows and sign in with your email and the code we send you.
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On a Mac, allow Accessibility access when the app asks. It is how BetterSend reads Slack. Windows needs no permission.
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Double-click a message from a colleague and choose Translate to read it in your language, or Explain to understand what it means.
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To reply, write in your own language, click the BetterSend icon in the message box, pick a tone and replace the draft with the English result.
In Slack on the web, with the Chrome extension
For Slack in the browser, on any computer that runs Chrome.
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Add BetterSend to Chrome and sign in with your email. The free plan needs no card.
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Open Slack in Chrome. Each message gets Translate and Explain, and the message box gets an Improve button.
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Press Translate under a message to read it in your language. The translation shows only on your screen.
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Write your reply in your own language, press Improve, choose a tone and replace your draft with the result.
Why this works better than a translator tab
Your reply gets a tone, not just a translation
13 tones, from Friendly for the team channel to Diplomatic when you need to push back or say no. 3 are free, the rest come with Pro.
It explains what a translator leaves out
A translation gives you the words. Explain says what "circle back" or "ship it" means, and the tone behind a short reply, so you answer the message your colleague actually sent.
No admin, any Slack plan
You install BetterSend yourself, in Chrome or on your computer. Nobody has to add an app to the workspace, nothing is posted in the channel, and it works on every Slack plan, Free included.
Never stores your messages
Only the message you act on is sent, it is used to produce the result and then discarded. BetterSend does not store message text or use it to train models.
What it costs
Free plan: 50 AI actions a month and 3 tones, no card. Each improve, translate or explain is one action.
Pro: $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, with unlimited actions and all 13 tones.
BetterSend and the alternatives
Each of these is the right choice for someone. This is where each one is better.
| Tool | What it does in Slack | Better when |
|---|---|---|
| Copying into a translator | You copy the message into Google Translate or DeepL, read the translation, write your reply there and paste a literal translation back into Slack. | You only need the gist of a message now and then. |
| Slack's built-in translation | On the plans that include it, Translate message shows a message you received in your language, visible only to you. It does not translate or rewrite what you write. | Your company already pays for a plan that includes it and you only need to read. |
| A translation bot in the workspace | An admin installs an app that translates channel messages on its own and adds the translation for everyone in the channel to see. | A whole team reads in several languages and the admin wants every channel translated. |
| BetterSend | Translate and Explain on the messages you receive in 44 languages, and Improve on your reply in 13 tones from any language, in the Slack app on Mac and Windows and in Slack on the web. | You read and answer Slack messages in a second language every day and want to do both without leaving the conversation. |
DeepL and BetterSend for work messages, compared with sources →