Can you unsend a LinkedIn message?

LinkedIn's Recall a sent message page says plainly: "You can't recall a message you send to your connections in LinkedIn Messaging." Its Edit or delete a sent message page gives the real way back, inside that hour. This guide covers messages you remove on purpose. A thread that disappeared from your LinkedIn messages without you deleting it is a different case.

How to delete or edit a sent LinkedIn message

Do this inside the 60 minutes. On desktop, as of October 2026:

1. Click the Messaging icon at the top of LinkedIn, or open the chat window at the bottom right.
2. Open the conversation.
3. Hover over the message you sent and click the More icon.
4. Click Delete, then click Delete again to confirm.

To fix a typo or a wrong link instead, click Edit in step 4, change the text and click Save. Only text can be edited, so a wrong attachment needs Delete.

In the LinkedIn app, tap the Messaging icon in the upper right, open the conversation, tap and hold the message, then tap Delete and confirm (or Edit, then Save).

Pick by the mistake. A typo or a broken link: Edit, since an "Edited" label draws less attention than a deleted note. The wrong person, or words you regret: Delete.

What the other person sees after you delete

A deleted LinkedIn message is not invisible. In its place, everyone in the conversation sees "This message has been deleted", so the other person knows you sent something and took it back. An edited message shows the new text with an "Edited" label. LinkedIn says a deleted message can't be retrieved.

They may still have read it. LinkedIn tells people about new messages in Messaging and, depending on their settings, by email, and no LinkedIn Help page says a later delete pulls the text back out of an email or a phone notification that already arrived. A fast delete clears the message from LinkedIn. It may not clear it from their inbox or lock screen. If the content matters, assume it may have been seen and decide whether a one-line note ("Sent that to the wrong person, please ignore") is kinder than silence.

Delete a message vs delete a conversation

These two look alike and do opposite things. The conversation column follows LinkedIn's Delete a conversation page, and group chats work the same way.

To delete a conversation, open it, click the More icon, choose Delete conversation and confirm Delete. It does not remove or block the connection.

Missed the 60 minutes?

After 60 minutes it stays in their inbox, and deleting the conversation only costs you your copy. The useful move is a short follow-up in the same thread: correct the fact, send the right link, or apologize in one line.

For a sent InMail the rule is stricter: you can't delete it at all, and you can edit it only before it is accepted or within 60 minutes of sending. Recruiter InMail follows its own rules in Recruiter.

Deleted is final

LinkedIn can't restore a deleted message or a deleted conversation. What can remain:

• The other person. Unless you deleted the message inside the 60 minutes, they can send you back the text you need.
• An earlier download. LinkedIn's Download your data archive holds messages you sent, received and archived. A copy you downloaded before deleting still has the text in its messages file in the LinkedIn data export. One requested afterwards does not.
• Archive instead of delete. If you only want a thread out of sight, archive it: it leaves your inbox and you can bring an archived conversation back later.

See who wrote and when

For people you save to the LinkedAsk watchlist, LinkedAsk shows the conversations you open with them on LinkedIn in Chrome on your computer: who wrote, when, and who replied, starting the day you add them.