Can you delete LinkedIn messages and conversations? When you delete a conversation, does it work on both sides? And how about sponsored messages or messages on Premium accounts?
These are fundamental questions if you’re trying to keep a clean, organized LinkedIn inbox, and professional network.
Here are all you need to know about how to delete LinkedIn messages:
How do you delete messages on LinkedIn?
Great first question! You can delete LinkedIn messages either one by one or delete a full conversation at once.
Delete a recent LinkedIn message (Under 60 minutes)
To delete a single message, it’s really simple:
- Bring your mouse over the message. On hover, you will be shown the reaction emojis and three dots on the right side of the popover.
- Click on “Delete”.
- LinkedIn will ask you to confirm your action in case this is a mistake
- If you click “Yes”, the message will be deleted for both participants.
Will they see the deleted message?
The person you’re talking with will not see the content, but they will see that you deleted the message like so:
Delete older LinkedIn messages (Over 1 hour)
As you can see in the example below, LinkedIn doesn’t let me delete my 7.52 am message. Why?
That’s because the message was sent over 1 hour ago. LinkedIn gives you up to 60 minutes to edit or delete a message, after which it stops offering the possibility of deleting the message.
So there’s no way to delete older messages?
The only way to delete messages over 60 minutes is to delete the whole conversation.
How to delete a full LinkedIn conversation?
If you want to delete all the messages you exchanged with someone, LinkedIn also lets you delete the whole conversation:
- Go to your LinkedIn inbox
- Hover over the conversation to delete
- Click the 3-dots on the right side of the conversation
- Click “delete conversation”
LinkedIn will show you a popup modal to confirm this action, so don’t worry if you clicked too fast, you have a last chance to cancel your action before deletion:
Does deleting LinkedIn conversations delete messages on both sides?
Yes! After deleting a conversation, LinkedIn will delete it for both participants. It won’t show anything in your inbox, and there will be no special notification to the other person.
Can I delete LinkedIn group messages and conversations?
Deleting LinkedIn group messages works differently:
- You can delete a group conversation and it will disappear from your inbox.
- ⚠️ The messages and the conversation won’t be deleted
- ⚠️ Other participants won’t see that you deleted the conversation, and will still see you in the conversation.
As soon as someone writes a new message in that conversation, you will see the conversation but back up in your inbox, with the whole history.
ℹ️
To make sure a group conversation stops coming back to your inbox, the best way is for you to leave the conversation and then delete the conversation. Other participants will see this:
How do you bulk-delete all messages on LinkedIn?
To do a deep cleaning of your inbox, you might want to delete all your LinkedIn conversations. LinkedIn doesn’t offer a way to do that, therefore you must resort to using LinkedIn Contact Management systems like PokedHQ.com.
Poked lets you take bulk-actions like bulk-archiving all your LinkedIn messages, or (soon) bulk-deleting all your LinkedIn messages. For more information, create a free account and start experimenting!
FAQ
If I delete my LinkedIn account, will it delete my messages?
Yes and no. If you delete your LinkedIn account, all your connections, experiences, skills, languages, posts, and messages will be deleted.
You will be shown as a “LinkedIn Member” in all the conversations you ever had with everyone, but the messages will still be accessible to the person:
Can you delete sponsored messages?
Yes, you can delete LinkedIn sponsored messages (thank God).
Can you delete Sales Navigator messages?
Yes, you can delete LinkedIn Sales Navigator messages.
Can you delete LinkedIn Recruiter messages?
Yes, you can delete LinkedIn Recruiter messages.