Workspaces - slack fails to launch

[Samyouell]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.87.1

Installation method

PowerToys auto-update

Running as admin

None

Area(s) with issue?

Workspaces

Steps to reproduce

slack doesn't launch

Create/edit a workspace.
In my case, I have 3 apps split evenly in the screen (gmail running as a PWA app, onenote, and slack).
When I launch the workspace, slack fails to launch.

I have tried running powertoys as admin.
i have tried running the shortcut as admin.
no change in behavior

✔️ Expected Behavior

Expecting slack to be launched and placed correctly, as captured by the workspaces layout editor.

❌ Actual Behavior

2 apps correctly launch and are layed out.
the slack app does not launch at all.

Other Software

No response

[similar-issues-ai]

We've found some similar issues:

• Workspaces launcher slow  #34823 , similarity score: 82%
• Workspaces doesn't capture "Slack" Window. #34614 , similarity score: 81%

If any of the above are duplicates, please consider closing this issue out and adding additional context in the original issue.

Note: You can give me feedback by 👍 or 👎 this comment.

[Samyouell]

Screenshot showing that the "edit workspace" has an error or warning for the slack application

[donlaci]

@Samyouell Please send a /bugreport

[Samyouell]

PowerToysReport_2025-01-02-14-24-26.zip

thanks for looking into this!
i love the workspaces feature and will love it even more if you can help get it working even better. :-)

[donlaci]

Hi @Samyouell
A quick fix can probably solve your issue: In your workspaces.json file, located in
c:\Users\ YourName \AppData\Local\Microsoft\PowerToys\Workspaces
please find these lines:

                    "application": "Slack",
                    "application-path": "C:\\Users\\samue\\AppData\\Local\\slack\\slack.exe\\Slack.exe",

It is present 2 times, as you had Slack in 2 workspaces. Please delete maually the tailing \\Slack.exe as it is wrongly attached for some reason.

I will analyse how it could happen, I am actively using slack too, have it in many workspaces and had never this problem. Maybe the lower/upper case difference, but I have to check. Thanks for finding this!

[Samyouell]

Hi Laszlo, removing the tailing "\\slack.exe" solved the problem (though I need to double check it on my wider work monitor.) It does launch the slack app successfully now! Thanks, Sam

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