LinkedIn Other inbox: find messages you missed

If the conversation is not in Other either, the guide to where LinkedIn messages go when they disappear checks every other place.

Where the Other inbox is on desktop and in the app

As of October 2026, per LinkedIn's Use filters and search for messages:

LinkedIn's older Focused Inbox page still calls Focused and Other tabs. If a guide says "click the Other tab" and you see a dropdown, your screen matches the newer page the table follows. Screens can differ by account.

Why LinkedIn put the message in Other

LinkedIn says only that Focused Inbox sorts messages "based on their relevance to you", using machine learning, and it publishes no rules for which message goes where: no sender list, no InMail rule and no inactivity window. It documents no exception for connections, so a message from someone you know can land in Other too.

LinkedIn's Focused Inbox page documents two facts that explain the most common surprises:

• Old conversations in Other. When Focused Inbox started, LinkedIn ran a one-time cleanup that kept recent, active conversations in Focused and moved older and less relevant ones to Other.
• "I never turned this on." LinkedIn says that in some cases it turned Focused Inbox on automatically for members outside the EU.

LinkedIn says push notifications and badges arrive for new messages in both Focused and Other, with a blue unread dot next to the tab and a banner at the top of the inbox for unread messages in Other.

Move a conversation from Other to Focused

Moving a conversation is the one per-conversation control LinkedIn documents, and it documents it for desktop. On LinkedIn in a browser, as of October 2026:

In the app, LinkedIn Help gives no steps for moving a conversation. Open the conversation and check its More menu. If Move to Focused is not there, make the move on desktop. LinkedIn also does not say that moving one conversation keeps that person's future messages in Focused, so check Other again when you expect to hear from someone.

Then reply. A late reply that says you just found the message is fine. If you found several old ones at once, keep those threads from going quiet again with a simple routine for keeping track of LinkedIn follow-ups.

Turn Focused Inbox off, or back on

If you get only a few messages a week and read all of them, turning Focused Inbox off is simpler: one list, nothing sorted away. If you get many cold messages from strangers, keep it on and look at Other on a set day each week.

As of October 2026, per Manage smart features in LinkedIn Messaging, on desktop:

In the app, tap your profile photo, then Settings & Privacy, then Data Privacy, and under Messaging experience tap Focused inbox and switch the toggle. Older LinkedIn Help pages name other paths through the More icon in Messaging. If your screen differs, use the one you see and refresh the page after changing it.

Still missing? Check these places

• Search by name. Type the sender's name in the Search messages bar above your conversation list. LinkedIn says you can search by keyword or recipient. If you have your LinkedIn data export, LinkedIn message search finds a conversation by name or word in the file.
• Archived. Choose Archived in the dropdown. The guide to archived LinkedIn messages shows how to restore one and how conversations end up there.
• Spam. Choose Spam in the dropdown.
• Message requests. Coworkers and Group members you are not connected to arrive as message requests. They wait outside the main list until you accept one. Declined ones are under More, then Declined message requests.

Keep the people who matter in view

One option is to save the people you cannot afford to miss, a client or a recruiter, to the LinkedAsk watchlist. For saved people whose conversation you opened, it shows their last message with the date on their card and marks Reply to them when they wrote last.