LinkedIn is one of the most popular professional social networking sites, with over 722 million users worldwide as of 2021. On LinkedIn, users can connect with other professionals, join groups, follow companies, and search for jobs. One of the key features of LinkedIn is the ability to directly message other users through the LinkedIn messaging system.
Many users utilize LinkedIn messaging to connect with colleagues, clients, recruiters, and more. However, there may be times when you want to delete a LinkedIn message that you sent or received. This raises the question – once you delete a LinkedIn message, is it gone forever or can the recipient still see it?
How Does Deleting LinkedIn Messages Work?
When you delete a message you sent or received on LinkedIn, it is removed from your inbox and conversations list. However, the message is not necessarily deleted from the recipient’s inbox.
Here is how deleting LinkedIn messages works:
- If you delete a message you sent, it is permanently deleted from LinkedIn’s servers and neither you nor the recipient can access it anymore.
- If you delete a message you received, it is removed from your inbox but remains in the sender’s inbox and conversation history. They will still be able to see the full message thread from their account.
So in summary:
- Messages you send are deleted forever when removing them
- Messages you receive are only deleted from your inbox, the sender still has access
When Are Deleted LinkedIn Messages Permanently Removed?
Deleted LinkedIn messages are permanently deleted from LinkedIn’s servers after 30 days if they were originally sent by you. This applies to:
- Messages you sent then deleted from your Sent folder
- Replies you sent in an ongoing conversation and deleted
- Messages you received, replied to, and then deleted the entire thread
Any messages still visible in the recipient’s inbox will remain available to them. But after 30 days your deleted messages are no longer recoverable.
Examples of When Deleted Messages Are Permanently Removed
- You sent a message on January 1st and deleted it from Sent on January 15th. It will be permanently deleted from LinkedIn’s servers on February 15th.
- You replied in a message thread on December 12th and deleted your reply on December 28th. Your reply will be unavailable to all parties as of January 28th.
- You received a message on November 15th, replied on November 19th, and deleted the thread from your inbox on December 1st. Your sent reply will be permanently gone by January 1st.
Essentially, any message you individually send and subsequently delete is permanently removed after 30 days. Messages you received are only deleted from your view.
When Are Deleted LinkedIn Messages Recoverable?
While LinkedIn messages you send are permanently deleted after 30 days, there is a window where you may be able to recover recently deleted messages if needed.
Deleted LinkedIn messages can be recovered using the following methods:
- Via the LinkedIn mobile app – open the app and tap on your profile photo, then tap Settings & Privacy > Communications > Message history. Recently deleted messages appear here for a limited time.
- Via LinkedIn on desktop – navigate to the Me icon > Settings & Privacy > Communications > Message history. You can recover deleted messages here for up to 14 days after deleting.
- By contacting LinkedIn Customer Service – within 10 days of deletion, you may be able to request help from LinkedIn to restore certain deleted messages. This is not guaranteed.
In summary, you may be able to restore recently deleted LinkedIn messages within 1-2 weeks through the app, website, or customer support. But after approximately 30 days, deleted messages are likely gone forever.
When You Cannot Recover Deleted LinkedIn Messages
There are some cases where you cannot retrieve deleted LinkedIn messages, including:
- Beyond 14 days after deleting a message you sent
- Beyond 10 days after deleting without contacting Customer Service
- If the message recipient deletes the message thread
- If you permanently delete your LinkedIn account
So if you want to recover a deleted LinkedIn message, be sure to act quickly using the LinkedIn website or app. Otherwise you may miss the window where restoration is possible.
Does Deleting LinkedIn Messages Also Delete For Recipient?
A key thing to remember when deleting LinkedIn messages is that it only deletes the message from your account inbox, not the recipient’s.
When you delete a message you sent or received on LinkedIn, here is what happens for you and the recipient:
Action | Impact on You (Sender/Recipient) | Impact on Recipient |
---|---|---|
You delete a message you sent | Message deleted from your Sent folder | Message deleted from their inbox after 30 days |
You delete a message you received | Message deleted from your inbox | Message remains in their Sent folder |
You delete a message thread | Entire thread deleted from your inbox | Your sent messages in the thread deleted after 30 days. Their sent messages remain. |
In summary, deleting a message or thread only removes it from your view – not the recipient’s. Exceptions are messages you originally sent, which eventually get permanently deleted across LinkedIn after 30 days.
Examples of How Message Deletion Impacts Sender vs Recipient
- You receive a message from Bob. You delete it. Bob can still see the sent message in his Sent folder.
- You send Alice a message then delete it from your Sent folder. Alice can still see the message until 30 days pass when it is deleted.
- You and Charlie have a message thread. You delete the thread. Your sent messages will be gone in 30 days. Charlie’s sent messages remain visible.
The core takeaway is deleting LinkedIn messages only removes them from your inbox. The original sender retains access unless you sent the message yourself.
How to Permanently Delete LinkedIn Messages
If you want to permanently remove a LinkedIn message thread that you don’t want the recipient to view anymore, you have a couple options:
- Delete the message you sent. It will automatically be permanently deleted across LinkedIn after 30 days.
- Ask the recipient to also delete the message thread. This will fully remove the conversation.
- Delete your LinkedIn account. All messages and data will be erased.
Methods like deleting cached/offline LinkedIn data or trying to delete the message from LinkedIn’s servers yourself do not work. The only way to fully delete a message thread is to either wait 30 days after deleting your sent messages, or have the recipient also remove the conversation.
How to Ask LinkedIn Recipient to Delete Message
To request that a LinkedIn message recipient deletes a conversation from their account inbox as well, you can:
- Send them a new message politely asking them to delete the thread for privacy or other reasons.
- Call or email them separately if you have contact information, making the same request.
- Use another LinkedIn account to send the request if you do not want to use your main account.
While they are not obligated to comply with your request, common courtesy on professional networks often results in the recipient agreeing to remove the messages as well. This will permanently erase the conversation faster than just deleting it yourself.
Does LinkedIn Notify When You Delete Messages?
When you delete a LinkedIn message you sent or an entire conversation thread, LinkedIn does not proactively notify the other user that you deleted messages.
The recipient is not alerted when any of the following deletion actions occur:
- You delete a single message you sent from your Sent folder
- You remove a reply you sent from an ongoing conversation
- You delete an entire message thread from your inbox
The messages simply disappear from your inbox. If the recipient checks back later, they will see earlier messages missing. But LinkedIn does not directly indicate which messages were deleted or by whom.
When LinkedIn Recipients May Notice Deleted Messages
Despite no proactive notifications from LinkedIn, recipients may notice deleted messages if:
- They try to view a specific message URL directly that now shows deleted
- They view your shared conversation history and see messages disappeared
- They recall earlier messages that are now missing from the thread
So while LinkedIn does not tell recipients about deleted messages, they can likely deduce messages were removed based on conversation history and context. But you will not receive any alerts or calls from LinkedIn about it.
Can You Recover Deleted LinkedIn Messages?
It is possible to recover recently deleted LinkedIn messages and conversations in some cases if you act quickly enough as the sender.
Options for trying to recover deleted LinkedIn messages include:
- LinkedIn mobile app – Open the app, go to your profile, tap Settings & Privacy > Communications > Message history. Recently deleted messages may show here.
- LinkedIn website – On desktop LinkedIn, click the Me icon and go to Settings & Privacy > Communications > Message history. You can restore deleted messages here.
- Contacting LinkedIn – Within 10 days of deletion, you may be able to have Customer Service help recover deleted messages.
- LinkedIn data download – Request an archive of your LinkedIn data, which may contain deleted messages up to 30 days old.
If you are past the available LinkedIn restore period, your only options are trying professional data recovery services or asking the recipient to send the message again.
What Makes LinkedIn Message Recovery Difficult
There are a few reasons why recovering deleted LinkedIn messages gets challenging:
- Limited restoration period – LinkedIn only retains deleted messages for 1-2 weeks.
- Recipient still has messages – Recipients may need to delete the thread as well for full deletion.
- No sender notification – You are not alerted if the recipient deletes messages they received.
- No cloud backups – LinkedIn does not backup all message history externally.
Due to these restrictions, the window where LinkedIn message recovery succeeds is small. Acting within 10-14 days using LinkedIn’s tools is key.
Does LinkedIn Have Message Retention Policies?
Yes, LinkedIn does have retention policies that determine how long different types of data remain on their servers before being permanently deleted.
Here are some key LinkedIn message retention rules:
- Messages you send are retained for up to 30 days after you delete them before permanent removal.
- Messages you receive are retained indefinitely until you manually delete them.
- Deleted messages remain recoverable for approximately 10-14 days after removal.
- Total message history is retained while your account remains active.
In essence, LinkedIn will keep all messages intact indefinitely as long as your account stays open. Only messages you specifically delete will eventually get removed after 30 days.
Factors Impacting LinkedIn Message Retention
Some other factors that influence how long LinkedIn retains messages before permanent deletion include:
- Account status – Messages for closed accounts are deleted more quickly.
- Legal holds – Messages may be preserved longer if required by litigation.
- Support requests – Messages may be kept if relevant to an open customer issue.
- Version history – Older message backups may expire sooner than current versions.
- Database limits – LinkedIn may delete older data if storage capacity is constrained.
So while the 30 day retention policy is common, LinkedIn reserves the right to hold messages longer if necessary or expire earlier to manage resources.
Does Unsending a LinkedIn Message Also Delete?
If you use LinkedIn’s “unsend message” feature to try to revoke a message, it does not permanently delete or remove the message from the recipient’s inbox.
Here is what happens when you use the LinkedIn unsend feature:
- The message text is replaced with “This message has been deleted” in your Sent folder.
- The recipient sees the same placeholder text instead of the original message.
- The message remains in the recipient’s inbox and conversation history.
So unlike Gmail’s unsend which erases the message entirely, LinkedIn’s unsend just obscures the content, retaining the placeholder. The message thread itself remains intact.
How to Permanently Delete an Unsent LinkedIn Message
To fully remove an unsent LinkedIn message from a recipient’s inbox, you need to:
- Use the unsend feature so the content is obscured.
- Wait 30 days for LinkedIn’s deletion policies to remove the unsent message.
- Ask the recipient to delete the placeholder message as well.
Only once the recipient also deletes the message thread will it be completely erased. Unsending alone just masks the content for all parties temporarily.
Conclusion
Deleting LinkedIn messages does not fully remove them from the recipient’s account inbox and conversation history. Only messages you personally sent are eventually permanently deleted after 30 days.
To entirely delete a LinkedIn conversation, the recipient must also remove the thread from their account inbox. Otherwise, your messages will simply disappear from your own view but remain visible to the recipients.
With LinkedIn’s limited message restoration window, be sure to recover deleted messages within 10-14 days using LinkedIn’s tools. Beyond that window, permanent removal is likely unrecoverable without the recipient resending the original messages.