# Send a Direct Message

Sends a private, one-to-one Slack direct message from within a workflow directly to one specified individual PagerDuty user.


> **Availability:** See the [Incident Workflow Actions Overview table](/workflow-actions) for the plans this workflow is available on.

## Description

Send a message to a Slack user.

## Instructions

1. If you have not done so, follow the instructions to [Create an Incident Workflow](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows#create-an-incident-workflow).
2. When the instructions prompt you to [add actions](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows#add-actions), select **this action**.
3. Enter the following **Inputs** and click **Save**.
4. Continue following instructions to **Publish** the Workflow.
5. When the action runs, you will see the **Outputs** listed below.

## Inputs

> **Field References:** Fields with the **\{+\}** icon accept [Field References](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows#field-references), which can be useful for referencing incident data or outputs created in prior workflow steps. To add Field References, click **\{+\}**, or enter `{{`, and select relevant fields. Refer to the [Field References](/ai-automation/automation/incident-workflows#field-references) article for more information.

| Name      | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| :-------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Workspace | Select the Slack Workspace with your desired channel from the list in the dropdown, or click **Connect Another Slack Workspace** to add a new one.                                                          |
| User      | The user to send this message to. You will only be able to select users who have [linked their PagerDuty and Slack accounts](/integrations/slack-integration-guide/slack-user-guide#link-user-accounts) . |
| Message   | Enter the message body. This field supports Slack [mrkdwn](https://api.slack.com/reference/surfaces/formatting)  formatting and emojis.                                                                     |

## Outputs

| Name           | Description                                                                        |
| :------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Result         | Value that shows if the action was successful or not. Either "Success" or "Failed" |
| Result Summary | Brief description of what the action did or if it failed.                          |
| Error          | Brief description that is populated if the action failed.                          |