Billy
Billy is the BuddiesHR birthday bot for Slack and Microsoft Teams. It collects birthdays and work anniversaries and celebrates them automatically.
Billy, the BuddiesHR birthday bot, collects your team's birthdays and work anniversaries and posts the celebrations in the channel of your choice, in Slack or Microsoft Teams. Watch the walkthrough below or follow the install guide for Slack or Microsoft Teams.
What Billy does#
- Automatic date collection: Billy asks each member for their dates, reminds those who haven't answered and welcomes newcomers. You can also import an Excel file.
- Birthdays and work anniversaries: celebrated on the day, with the number of years for work anniversaries.
- Several channels (Slack): each with its own audience, time, timezone, language and style. In Teams, one channel per team.
- Weekends and public holidays: celebrate on the actual day, or move to the Friday before or the Monday after. See how.
- Weekly or monthly grouping (Slack): one post for the whole week or month.
- Fun messages: random intros and closing lines, GIFs, an optional
@channeltag,FormattedorClassicstyle (Slack). - Custom messages and GIFs (Slack): replace the closing line or the GIF for a given day.
- Custom celebrations (Slack): your company's anniversary or any other event, once or every year.
- Personal reminders: a private heads-up 1, 7 or 14 days before a teammate's celebration.
- Upcoming events: see who's next, and search for a teammate.
- Privacy: anyone can opt out, and Billy never asks for a birth year.
- Five languages: English, Français, Español, Português and Deutsch. More about languages.
Where to start#
- Admins in Slack: install Billy, then explore the admin settings.
- Admins in Microsoft Teams: install Billy, then learn Billy's commands.
- Team members: enter your birthday or set up reminders.
Billy is free for teams under 10 seats, with a 30-day free trial above that: see how Billy's free plan and free trial work.
All Billy articles
Getting started
Install Billy and set up your first birthday channel.
- Install Billy, the birthday bot, in SlackAdd Billy, the BuddiesHR birthday bot, to your Slack workspace in about 30 seconds, and what to do if an App Manager has to approve the install first.→
- Set up Billy in Slack after installing itOn the Setup Billy Birthday page, pick a Slack channel, choose who Billy celebrates and how it collects birthdays, then click Submit. It takes a minute.→
- Install Billy, the birthday bot, in Microsoft TeamsAdd Billy to a team in Microsoft Teams, fill out the Settings card it sends you and click Finish setup to start celebrating birthdays and work anniversaries.→
How-to guides
Answers to the questions people ask most, step by step.
- How to automate birthday messages in SlackSet up Billy once and every birthday and work anniversary in your Slack workspace is celebrated automatically, with no spreadsheet of dates to maintain.→
- What Billy's celebration message looks likeThe parts of a Billy birthday and work anniversary post in Slack and Microsoft Teams, the Formatted and Classic styles, and which setting changes each part.→
- Messages Billy sends to admins and membersEvery message Billy, the birthday bot, posts in channels or sends privately in Slack and Microsoft Teams, when it's sent, and how to stop the reminders.→
- How Billy handles weekends, holidays and grouped postsWhen Billy posts a birthday that falls on a weekend or public holiday, with examples, and how weekly or monthly grouped posts work in Slack and Teams.→
Admin settings
Configure channels, collect dates and customize celebrations.
- Billy admin settings video tourA 3-minute video tour of everything Billy admins can configure from the Home tab in Slack, with links to the step-by-step guide for each setting.→
- Find Billy's admin settings in SlackFind the Admin settings section on Billy's Home tab in Slack, see what each channel card shows, and learn what to do if you can't see the section at all.→
- Add Billy to a Slack channelAdd Billy to a Slack channel and choose who gets celebrated, the posting time, timezone, language, weekend handling and the style of the celebration message.→
- Change a Billy channel's settings in SlackChange who Billy celebrates in a Slack channel, its language, posting time, timezone, frequency, weekend handling, GIF, @channel tag or message style.→
- Remove Billy from a Slack channelStop Billy from posting birthday and work anniversary celebrations in a Slack channel in three clicks. Members' dates are kept and seats are updated.→
- Collect birthdays and work anniversaries with BillyThe four ways Billy admins get the team's birthdays and work anniversaries into Billy in Slack: automatic collection, Excel import, a reminder or direct edits.→
- Remove someone's birthday from Billy in SlackStop Billy from celebrating a member, or delete their birthday or work anniversary, from the Home tab or with the Excel import in Slack.→
- See who opted out of Billy celebrationsBilly admins can see, channel by channel in Slack, which members opted out of birthday or work anniversary celebrations, and from which event.→
- Customize Billy's celebration messages and GIFsReplace the closing line of a Billy birthday or work anniversary post with your own words, or pick another GIF, for one posting day in one Slack channel.→
- Add public holidays to Billy in SlackAdd your public holidays to a Slack channel so Billy moves birthday and work anniversary posts to the working day before or after, like on weekends.→
- Add custom celebrations to Billy in SlackHave Billy celebrate other events in a Slack channel, like your company's anniversary, once or every year, with the anniversary count if you want it.→
- Add or remove a Billy admin in SlackGive a teammate access to Billy's admin settings in Slack with the Manage admins window, or take it away. Slack workspace admins always have access.→
- Manage Billy billing and download invoicesOpen the Stripe customer portal from Billy in Slack or Microsoft Teams to download invoices, change the card on file or update your billing address.→
- Subscribe to Billy in Slack or Microsoft TeamsStart a paid Billy subscription from Slack or Microsoft Teams when the free trial ends: pick monthly or yearly billing and pay with Stripe Checkout.→
- Sync Billy with BambooHR or LatticeGet birthdays and work anniversaries into Billy in Slack from BambooHR or Lattice, instead of asking each member for their dates. Our team sets it up for you.→
Personal settings
Add your own dates, opt out and set up reminders.
- Billy personal settings video tourA 1-minute video tour of the personal settings every Billy user can change in Slack: your dates, opting out, reminders and the upcoming celebrations.→
- Find your personal Billy settingsWhere to find your own Billy settings: the Hey buddy section of Billy's Home tab in Slack, or commands in your 1:1 chat with Billy in Microsoft Teams.→
- Enter your birthday and work anniversary in BillyAdd your own birthday and work anniversary date so Billy can celebrate you, from the Home tab in Slack or the SetDates card in Microsoft Teams.→
- Opt out of Billy birthday celebrationsStop Billy from celebrating your birthday or work anniversary and sharing the date with your coworkers, in Slack or Microsoft Teams. You can opt back in.→
- Set up birthday reminders with BillyGet a private heads-up from Billy 1, 7 or 14 days before a teammate's birthday or work anniversary, in Slack or Microsoft Teams, at 9:00am your time.→
- See upcoming birthdays with BillySee the next birthdays, work anniversaries and custom celebrations Billy will post in Slack or Microsoft Teams, and search for a teammate's date.→
- Use Billy as a team member in Microsoft TeamsShare your birthday, set reminders and see upcoming celebrations from your 1:1 chat with Billy in Microsoft Teams, with SetDates, Reminders and Upcoming.→
Microsoft Teams admins
Set up Billy in Microsoft Teams, collect dates and manage admins with chat commands.
- Use Billy's commands in Microsoft TeamsEvery command you can type in your 1:1 chat with Billy in Microsoft Teams, such as Settings, Status, Import, SetDates and Upcoming, and who can use each one.→
- Change Billy's settings in Microsoft TeamsUse Billy's Settings command in Microsoft Teams to change a team's channel, posting time, timezone, collection method, weekend handling, GIF and language.→
- Import birthdays with a spreadsheet in TeamsGet Billy's Excel spreadsheet in Microsoft Teams with the Import command, fill out your team's birthdays and work anniversaries, and upload it back.→
- Collect birthdays with Billy in Microsoft TeamsIn Microsoft Teams, see which members still have to share their birthdays with Billy's Status command, and ask them with AskDates or automatic collection.→
- Add Billy admins in Microsoft TeamsUse Billy's SetAdmin command in Microsoft Teams to choose who can change a team's settings, import dates and ask members for their birthdays.→
FAQ & troubleshooting
Answers to common questions about Billy.
- Find Billy's Home tab in SlackOpen Billy's Home tab in Slack in three steps. It holds your own birthday settings and, if you're a Billy admin, all of Billy's admin settings too.→
- Rename Billy in SlackChange the name Billy shows on its messages in your Slack workspace from Slack's app configuration page. You need to be a workspace admin or App Manager.→
- Remove someone's birthday from Billy in TeamsDelete a member's birthday or work anniversary from Billy in Microsoft Teams by writing DELETE in the import spreadsheet and sending it back to Billy.→
- How Billy's free plan and free trial workBilly is free under 10 seats. From 10 seats, Slack and Microsoft Teams workspaces get a 30-day free trial. When it starts, the reminders and what stops after.→
- How Billy counts seats in Slack and TeamsWhich members Billy counts as seats in Slack and Teams, why that decides if you're on the free plan, and how billing changes when people join or leave.→
- Fix a failed Billy subscription paymentWhat to do when Billy tells you in Slack or Microsoft Teams that a subscription renewal payment failed, so your plan stays active and no birthday is missed.→
- Change Billy's language in Slack or TeamsBilly posts in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese or German. Set the language of celebration posts per Slack channel or per Microsoft Teams team.→
- Fix Billy when it can't post in a Slack channelWhat to do when Billy can't join a private Slack channel, or can't post celebrations because posting in the channel is restricted or it was archived.→
- Uninstall, reinstall or update BillyWhat happens to your Billy settings, dates and subscription when you uninstall it from Slack or Microsoft Teams, and how to update an outdated version in Slack.→
- What happens in Billy when someone leavesHow Billy handles members deactivated in Slack or removed from a Microsoft Teams team: no more celebrations, no seat, and whether their dates are kept.→