How to Create Notion Tasks from Slack Messages with Make

make.com > Scenarios > Create a new scenario

Create a new Make scenario

Log into make.com and click the blue 'Create a new scenario' button in the top right. You'll land on the visual scenario canvas — a dark background with a single empty circle in the center. This circle is your trigger module. Click it to open the app search panel on the right side of the screen.

1. 1Log in at make.com
2. 2Click 'Create a new scenario' in the top right
3. 3Click the empty circle in the center of the canvas to open app search

Scenario Canvas > App Search > Slack > Watch Reactions

Add the Slack 'Watch Reactions' trigger

Type 'Slack' in the app search bar and select it. Make will show you all available Slack triggers and actions. For this workflow, select 'Watch Reactions' — this fires every time a user adds an emoji reaction to any message in a channel you specify. This is the most reliable trigger for this use case because users can react to any message retroactively, not just new ones.

1. 1Type 'Slack' in the search bar
2. 2Click the Slack app icon
3. 3Scroll to the Triggers section and click 'Watch Reactions'
4. 4Click 'Add' to place it on the canvas

Watch Reactions Module > Connection > Add > Authorize Slack

Connect your Slack workspace

Click the 'Watch Reactions' module and select 'Add' next to the Connection field. A popup opens asking you to authorize Make's Slack app. Sign in with the Slack account that has access to the target channel. Make needs the channels:history and reactions:read OAuth scopes — both are granted automatically during the standard authorization flow.

1. 1Click the 'Watch Reactions' module to open its settings panel
2. 2Click 'Add' next to the Connection dropdown
3. 3Click 'Sign in with Slack' in the popup
4. 4Select your workspace and click 'Allow'
5. 5Close the popup — Make returns you to the module settings

Watch Reactions Module > Reaction / Channel / Limit fields

Configure the reaction trigger settings

With the connection set, configure three fields in the Watch Reactions panel. Set 'Reaction' to the emoji name you want to use — type it without colons, e.g. 'white_check_mark' for ✅. Set 'Channel' to the Slack channel ID or name where tasks originate. Leave 'Limit' at 1 — this trigger processes one reaction event per run, which is correct for real-time task creation.

1. 1In the 'Reaction' field, type the emoji name without colons — e.g. 'white_check_mark'
2. 2Click the 'Channel' field and select or type the channel name (e.g. #engineering)
3. 3Leave Limit set to 1
4. 4Click OK to save the module settings

Scenario Canvas > + > Slack > Get a Message

Add a Slack 'Get a Message' module to fetch message text

The Watch Reactions trigger gives you the reaction event but NOT the full message text — only a message timestamp and channel ID. You need a second Slack module to fetch the actual message content. Click the '+' icon to the right of the Watch Reactions module on the canvas, search for Slack, and add the 'Get a Message' action.

1. 1Click the '+' button on the right edge of the Watch Reactions module
2. 2Search 'Slack' and click the app icon
3. 3Click 'Get a Message' under Actions
4. 4Click 'Add' to place it on the canvas

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Get a Message Module > Channel ID / Message ID fields

Map the message timestamp and channel into 'Get a Message'

Open the 'Get a Message' module settings. The two required fields are 'Channel ID' and 'Message ID' (which is actually the message timestamp in Slack's API). Click into the Channel ID field and select the 'Channel ID' variable from the Watch Reactions module in the mapping panel. Then click into Message ID and map 'Item Timestamp' from the Watch Reactions output.

1. 1Click the 'Get a Message' module to open settings
2. 2Click inside the 'Channel ID' field — a blue mapping panel opens
3. 3Select '1. Watch Reactions > Channel ID' from the variable list
4. 4Click inside the 'Message ID' field
5. 5Select '1. Watch Reactions > Item Timestamp' from the variable list
6. 6Click OK

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Scenario Canvas > Line between modules > Add a filter (wrench icon)

Add a filter to block duplicate reactions

If two people react with ✅ to the same message, you'll get two Notion tasks. Add a filter between 'Get a Message' and the next module to prevent this. Click the line connecting 'Get a Message' to the next module (you'll add the Notion module in the next step, so add this filter after you place the Notion module). Set the filter condition: 'Reaction Count' from the Get a Message output must equal 1. This passes only the first reaction on any given message.

1. 1Click the line between 'Get a Message' and the Notion module
2. 2Click 'Set up a filter' in the popup
3. 3Label the filter 'First reaction only'
4. 4Set Condition A to '2. Get a Message > Reactions > Count'
5. 5Set the operator to 'Equal to'
6. 6Set the value to '1'
7. 7Click OK

Scenario Canvas > + > Notion > Create a Database Item

Add the Notion 'Create a Database Item' module

Click the '+' after the Get a Message module (or after the filter if you've placed it). Search for Notion and add the 'Create a Database Item' action. This is the module that writes a new row to your Notion task database. You'll need to connect your Notion account and select the specific database to write into.

1. 1Click the '+' on the canvas after the Get a Message module
2. 2Search 'Notion' and click the app icon
3. 3Click 'Create a Database Item' under Actions
4. 4Click 'Add' next to Connection and authorize your Notion account
5. 5In the 'Database ID' field, click the dropdown and select your task database

Create a Database Item Module > Property fields

Map Slack data to Notion database fields

With the Notion module open, you'll see all your database properties listed as fields. Map each Slack variable to the correct Notion property. The task name should pull from '2. Get a Message > Text'. Assignee maps from '1. Watch Reactions > Event User ID' (this is the reactor's ID — you may want to map sender instead via '2. Get a Message > User'). Set Status to a fixed value like 'To Do'. Map the Slack permalink to a URL field if your database has one.

1. 1Click the 'Name' or 'Task' title field and map '2. Get a Message > Text'
2. 2Click the 'Assignee' field and map '2. Get a Message > User'
3. 3Click the 'Status' field and type or select 'To Do'
4. 4Click the 'Source Channel' field and map '2. Get a Message > Channel'
5. 5Click the 'Created Date' field and map '1. Watch Reactions > Event Date'
6. 6Click the 'Slack Link' URL field and map '2. Get a Message > Permalink'
7. 7Click OK

Scenario Canvas > Run once button (bottom toolbar)

Test the scenario end-to-end

Click 'Run once' in the bottom left of the canvas. This puts Make into listen mode — it's waiting for one real trigger event. Go to your Slack channel and add a ✅ reaction to any message. Return to Make within 60 seconds. The scenario should execute and show green checkmarks on each module. Click each module to inspect the data that flowed through it and verify the Notion record was created.

1. 1Click 'Run once' in the bottom left toolbar
2. 2Switch to Slack and add a ✅ reaction to any message in the configured channel
3. 3Return to Make — watch for the green execution bubbles to appear on each module
4. 4Click each module bubble to review the input and output data
5. 5Open Notion and confirm the new database entry appeared

Scenario Canvas > Scheduling toggle > Immediately > Save

Activate and schedule the scenario

Click the 'Scheduling' toggle in the bottom toolbar — it's currently OFF (gray). Turn it ON. Make will prompt you to set how often the scenario checks for new triggers. Since this uses a webhook-based trigger (Slack's Events API under the hood), select 'Immediately' — this means Make processes events as soon as Slack sends them, typically within 5-15 seconds of the reaction being added. Click Save.

1. 1Click the gray toggle labeled 'Scheduling' in the bottom toolbar
2. 2In the scheduling popup, select 'Immediately'
3. 3Click 'Save' in the bottom toolbar
4. 4Confirm the scenario name and click 'Save' again

Paste this formula into a Make 'Set Variable' module placed between 'Get a Message' and 'Create a Database Item'. It cleans raw Slack message text by stripping user mention tags like <@U02KJLMN3> and replacing them with a plain '@username' format, so your Notion task titles are readable without Slack-specific markup. Add the Set Variable module, name the variable 'clean_text', and paste the formula into the Value field.

{{replace(
  replace(
    replace(

{{replace(
  replace(
    replace(
      replace(
        2.text,
        "<@",
        "@"
      ),
      ">",
      ""
    ),
    "<#",
    "#"
  ),
  "&amp;",
  "&"
)}}

// Then in your Notion module, map the 'Task Name' field to
// the 'clean_text' variable instead of '2. Get a Message > Text'
// This handles: user mentions (@U02KJLMN3 → @U02KJLMN3 stripped),
// channel references (#C04XR8M → #channel-name stripped),
// and HTML entity &amp; decoded back to &