---
title: "Deactivate link and media unfurling"
description: "Stop Slack expanding links and media into previews under a step's message, so a direct message or channel post keeps the layout you wrote."
sidebar:
  order: 2
area: flows
feature: steps
appPath: /flows/home
lastVerified: 2026-10-22
version: "2026-10-16"
audience: admin
screenshots:
  - id: flows-steps-advanced-tab
    caption: On a Slack step the Advanced tab adds the two unfurling switches to the fields shown here.
related:
  - flows/steps/add-a-direct-message-step
  - flows/steps/post-to-a-channel
  - flows/steps/format-a-message
intercom:
  - id: "13930400"
    title: "Deactivating Link & Media Unfurling in Slack Messages (Pyn 2)"
    url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/13930400-deactivating-link-media-unfurling-in-slack-messages-pyn-2
    note: replaces
---

Slack unfurls: it expands a link into a card with a title, image and description, and shows an image or video link inline. That is helpful for a shared article and unhelpful under a carefully laid out welcome with a banner and three buttons, or a link to an internal page that previews as a login screen.

## Before you start

- The step is a **Send Direct Message** or **Post to Channel** step. Email has no unfurling, so the switches are not shown there.

![On a Slack step the Advanced tab adds the two unfurling switches to the fields shown here.](https://support.pynhq.com/media/flows/steps/flows-steps-advanced-tab.png)

## Steps

1. In Pyn, open the automation from **Flows**, **Automations**, and select the Slack step.

2. Select the **Advanced** tab.

3. Tick **Deactivate link unfurling** to stop link previews.

4. Tick **Deactivate media unfurling** to stop images and videos linked in the text from showing inline.

5. Close the drawer, then **Publish** the automation.

> **Tip:** Images you insert with **Insert media** are part of the message and are not affected. The switches only govern previews Slack generates from URLs in the text.

## What you should see

Select **Preview**, then **Send a test to yourself**: the test in Slack shows the links as plain links with no card beneath them. The settings apply to reminders of the step as well, since a reminder is a copy of the original.

## Related

- [Add a direct message step](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/steps/add-a-direct-message-step/) and [Post to a channel](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/steps/post-to-a-channel/) for the steps these switches apply to.
- [Format a message](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/steps/format-a-message/) for inserting media rather than linking it.

## Related Intercom articles

- [Deactivating Link & Media Unfurling in Slack Messages (Pyn 2)](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/13930400-deactivating-link-media-unfurling-in-slack-messages-pyn-2) — replaces