1. Slack Help Centre
  2. Using Slack
  3. Format and style messages
    4. Edit or delete messages

Edit or delete messages

Who can use this feature?

Because mistkaes mistakes happen, it’s possible to edit and delete messages in Slack. Members can edit and delete messages they've sent if allowed by owners and admins.


Edit a message

By default, any member can edit their messages, but owners and admins can restrict this permission. If you can't edit a message, find an owner or admin to ask for help.

  1. Hover over the message you want to edit.
  2. Click the  three dots icon.
  3. Click Edit message.
  4. Select Save changes to finish.
  1. Tap and hold the message that you’d like to edit.
  2. Tap  Edit message and make your changes.
  3. Tap the  tick icon to finish.

Tip: On an Android device, you can double-tap a message to quickly edit it.


See how it worksAnimated GIF showing editing a sent message in a Slack conversation

Unsend a message

When you’ve sent a message and notice it’s not quite right, you can unsend it to fix your typo, add in that missing emoji and then send it off when it’s truly ready. Unsending messages will remove the message from the channel and return the content, including files, to the message input, where you can edit the message to resend or delete it. You can unsend a message when:

  • It is within 15 seconds of sending the message.
  • You do not navigate away from the conversation.
  • The message input is empty.
  1. From your desktop, press Cmd+Z (Mac) or Ctrl+Z (Windows).
  2. Select Unsend to confirm.
  3. If you’d like, tick the box next to Don’t show me this again.
  4. Edit your message, then press Enter to send it.

By default, any member can unsend their messages, but owners can restrict this permission by limiting who can delete messages. If you can't delete a message, find an owner or admin to ask for help.

Note: Unsending messages is currently only available on desktop. On mobile devices, you can edit or delete a message instead, as long as the permission is not restricted.

 

Delete a message

By default, any member can delete their messages, but owners can restrict this permission. If you can't delete a message, find an owner or admin to ask for help. Owners and admins can also delete members’ messages in public channels, private channels and group direct messages (DMs) they’re part of.

Note: Deleting a message is permanent, so please proceed with care.

  1. Hover over the message you want to delete.
  2. Click the  three dots icon.
  3. Click Delete message.
  4. Select Delete to confirm.
  1. Tap and hold the message that you’d like to delete.
  2. Tap  Delete Message.
  3. Tap Delete Message again to confirm.

Note: It's not possible to bulk delete messages. Owners and admins can delete a channel to remove all its messages. Owners on paid subscriptions can also set a retention policy to automatically delete messages after a certain amount of time.

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