You may find yourself wanting to cancel a LinkedIn invitation that you’ve sent but the recipient has not yet accepted. Perhaps you connected with the wrong person or changed your mind about connecting. Whatever the reason, cancelling a pending LinkedIn invitation is easy to do.
Why Cancel a LinkedIn Invitation?
There are a few common reasons you may want to cancel a pending LinkedIn invitation:
- You connected with the wrong person – If you sent an invite to someone with a similar name, you’ll want to cancel it before they accept.
- You no longer want to connect – Your circumstances may have changed and you decide you no longer need or want to connect.
- You want to resend the invitation – If you made an error in the invitation message, cancelling allows you to send again.
- The recipient is unresponsive – If time has passed with no acceptance, you may want to cancel and reconnect later.
Canceling the request essentially gives you a clean slate to decide if and when you want to connect with that person on LinkedIn.
How to Cancel a LinkedIn Invitation
It’s easy to cancel a pending LinkedIn invitation that hasn’t been accepted yet. Here are the steps:
- Go to your LinkedIn homepage and click on “My Network” at the top.
- On the My Network page, click “Invitations” on the right side.
- This will show you a list of your pending invitations. Find the person you want to cancel the invite for.
- Click the three dots “More” button next to their name.
- Select “Cancel invitation” from the dropdown menu.
- Confirm that you want to cancel the invitation when prompted.
And that’s it! The invitation will be cancelled and removed from your pending invites list. The recipient will not be notified that you cancelled.
What Happens When You Cancel a LinkedIn Invitation
When you cancel a pending LinkedIn invitation, here’s what happens:
- The invitation is permanently removed from your sent invitations list.
- The recipient will not be notified that you cancelled the invitation.
- If the recipient visits your profile later, they will not see a pending invitation from you.
- Your profiles will remain unconnected unless you re-invite them to connect.
- You can send a new invitation to the same person again at any time.
Essentially, it’s like the invitation never happened. The slate is wiped clean between you and the recipient.
Does the Recipient Receive Notification?
When you cancel a pending LinkedIn invitation, the recipient will not be alerted or notified in any way. This prevents any awkwardness or confusion about a cancelled invitation.
From the recipient’s perspective, they simply never received an invitation. Your profiles remain unconnected as if you had never sent the initial invite.
Can the Cancelled Invitation Be Viewed Later?
Once you cancel a pending LinkedIn invitation, neither you nor the recipient can view it again later. The cancelled invite is permanently deleted.
Your “Sent invitations” list will no longer include the cancelled invitation. And the recipient will not find any evidence that you had sent an invitation originally.
In your respective LinkedIn accounts, it will be as if the invitation never existed after you cancel it.
How Many Pending Invitations Can You Have?
LinkedIn limits the number of pending invitations you can have at one time. The allotment depends on your LinkedIn account type:
LinkedIn Account Type | Max Pending Invitations |
---|---|
Free Account | 500 |
Premium Business Account | 1,000 |
Sales Navigator Account | 1,000 |
Recruiter Lite Account | 3,000 |
Recruiter Account | 5,000 |
Once you reach your account limit, you won’t be able to send more invitations until pending ones are accepted, cancelled, or expired.
Can You Resend a Cancelled Invitation?
Yes, cancelling a LinkedIn invitation does not permanently block you from ever connecting with that person. You can resend an invitation any time.
Perhaps you realized you cancelled the invitation prematurely or made a mistake. Or you now have a renewed interest in connecting with them. Whatever the reason, you can send a brand new invitation after a previous one was cancelled.
The recipient will not know you had previously cancelled an invitation. As far as they know, it’s the first invite.
Is There a Time Limit to Cancel?
You can cancel a pending LinkedIn invitation at any time. There is no time limit.
Even if the invitation has been pending for weeks or months, you can still retract it as long as the recipient has not yet accepted it.
The cancellation is instant. And the slate is wiped clean immediately after you cancel.
Can the Recipient Decline a Cancelled Invitation?
No. Once you cancel a LinkedIn invitation, the recipient can no longer accept or decline it. The invitation is deleted.
Even if the recipient clicks the invitation link after you cancel, they will find that the invitation is no longer valid. It will have been completely removed from LinkedIn’s servers.
Does Cancelling Prevent Future Invitations?
No, cancelling a LinkedIn invitation does not permanently affect future invitations between you and that person. You remain free to re-invite them anytime.
Each invitation stands independently. Canceling just cancels that specific invitation. It does not impact future connection attempts.
You and the recipient have a clean slate to connect in the future regardless of any canceled invitations.
Can You Cancel After They’ve Accepted?
No, you cannot cancel a LinkedIn invitation after the recipient accepts it. Once they accept, your profiles become connected.
At that point, you would need to disconnect from the person if you no longer want to be connected on LinkedIn. This can be done by removing them from your connections list.
Conclusion
Canceling a pending LinkedIn invitation is simple and prevents awkwardness if you change your mind about connecting with someone. The recipient is never notified and it is as if the invitation never happened.
To cancel, access your pending invitations under My Network and select “Cancel invitation.” You can always send a new invitation in the future if you choose.
Withdrawing an invitation prior to acceptance gives you full control over your LinkedIn connections.