Reverting Slack's New UI: A Guide for Developers Who Love Control

Hello fellow developers!

Being a software engineer for the past 10 years, I've had my fair share of software updates, upgrades, and UI revamps. Some of them are warmly welcomed, while others make us question, "Why? Just... why?"

Recently, Slack decided to roll out a new UI, and let's say it wasn't my cup of coffee. The new change can be a bit frustrating for many of us juggling between multiple Slack servers (and I'm talking about working with two different companies simultaneously). But fret not, for the developer community is resourceful and never backs down from a challenge.

Thanks to the good folks over at Reddit, I stumbled upon a nifty little trick that helped me revert to the old UI, and I wanted to share this knowledge with all of you, especially if you're in the same boat as me.

Let's dive in!

Step 1: Enable Slack's Developer Menu

Before we begin, ensure that Slack is closed. To enable the developer menu, we need to set an environment variable. Open your terminal and type:

export SLACK_DEVELOPER_MENU=true

Step 2: Launch Slack

Once you've set the environment variable, navigate to your applications and open Slack:

open /Applications/Slack.app

Step 3: Access Developer Console

Here comes the fun part! Once Slack is up and running, you need to open the developer console. For this, simply press:

cmd + option + I

Step 4: The Magic Spell (JavaScript)

With the developer console in front of you, copy and paste the following JavaScript code:

localStorage.setItem(
  "localConfig_v2",
  localStorage
    .getItem("localConfig_v2")
    .replace(
      /\"is_unified_user_client_enabled\":true/g,
      '"is_unified_user_client_enabled": false',
    ),
);

Hit 'Enter', and voila! The old, familiar Slack UI should be back.

Wrapping up

The beauty of the developer community is how quick we are at finding workarounds when things don't go as per our liking. And while I'm sure Slack had its reasons for the UI change, it's great to know that we aren't entirely helpless in such situations.

So, next time you're met with an unappreciated software change, remember this - there's probably a workaround out there. All you need is a little digging and some faith in the community.

Happy coding!

By the way, if you found this useful, drop a comment, share it with your peers, and let's continue making our software lives a bit more comfortable.

Cheers,
Kaan

Note: This method is based on community findings and might not work with future Slack updates. Always back up your important data before making any changes.