Element-web: Editable messages

[ara4n]

https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/issues/682

[richvdh]

From https://matrix.org/jira/browse/SPEC-410:

Pretty, pretty please with sugar on top add this soon.

[AndrewJDR]

Coffee on chat the brought up the point that this could be tricky to deal with for bridges (e.g. irc bridges) since they don't support the concept of message edits or message redaction. I propose that for bridges, a new message be sent and prefixed with something like Message Edit: <newly modified message content>

[ara4n]

The gitter bridge already handles this quite well actually, for gitter->matrix, using something like this

On 3 Nov 2016, at 20:00, Andrew Johnson [email protected] wrote:

Coffee on chat the brought up the point that this could be tricky to deal with for bridges (e.g. irc bridges) since they don't support the concept of message edits or message redaction. I propose that for bridges, a new message be sent and prefixed with something like "Message Edit: ".

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[AndrewJDR]

@ara4n @richvdh Lack of this feature has long been a thorn in my side, so I'm considering tackling implementation of this issue myself along with a friend.
Which files/functions within synapse, vector-web, matrix-react-sdk would need to be modified to get this working for synapse and vector-web for starters?
Even if this is just a few very general pointers, this would be helpful.

[k3vmcd]

Editing a message and deleting the entire line should then cause the redaction (deletion) of that message.

[k3vmcd]

Using the up arrow should edit the last message that user sent.

[hackervera]

has anyone made a PR or branch for this anywhere?

[ara4n]

yes: https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk/pull/588. It needs review. This is working its way up our todo list...

[lboklin]

So has there been any progress on this? It's an important feature which would improve the experience a lot, especially since Gitter edits are really painful to read in bridged rooms.

[MightyCreak]

I sure hope this will be implemented shortly. I remember it was the first thing I requested for the open source social network service Diaspora, it's been 7 years now, but the feature is still not here (although it might be the most requested).

As a result, after a long wait, I eventually left this social network. Of course, post editing was not the only reason, but it was definitely part of the reason.

Anyway, I truly hope the same scenario won't happen again with Matrix/Riot.

[axeII]

Kinda hope as well this feature will be added soon 🙏

[LexiconCode]

It is sort of a basic feature of any chat client I am surprised it hasn't received a higher priority from the community.

[adocampo]

Agree. Pretty rare nowadays a chat client's user cannot edit its own sentences.
From a developer's point of view surely is not interesting as this has been asked since 2016, but for a users point of view is ridiculous. I just like use a word processor without fonts format or a media player without volume control... I think if people wanted that, they would stick with IRC.

[MightyCreak]

Recently, the devs told about their roadmap for Riot Web: https://medium.com/@RiotChat/whats-next-for-riot-web-be48f948c801

So, the good news is that it's in the "Next" column, right after "Now" and before "Later". So less good (yet understandable) news is that there is no ETA for this "Next" column. It simply says what the devs will work on after the "Now" features are done.

Hopefully, we'll see message editing before the end of the year.

[jryans]

This feature is being broken down into smaller tasks and we hope to start those pieces soon.

[jryans]

An initial version of this now exists (as a disabled by default labs feature) on https://riot.im/develop. We'll continue to iterate on it there until it's ready for general release.

[lnicola]

@jryans I tried the labs feature and it seems to send a copy of the older message, without redacting it. Is that intended?

[t3chguy]

Yes, its so that you can see an edit history

[sschuberth]

Any ETA when this feature will be testable with the desktop client installers?

[t3chguy]

Editable messages are already a thing with web and desktop riot builds.

[sschuberth]

Ah, right, I was assuming the option to be in a message's dot menu, but there's a dedicated icon, silly me. Thanks!

[MightyCreak]

I.. don't see the button in the Riot/Desktop on Linux.. should I see it?

[t3chguy]

[MightyCreak]

I got these buttons too, but that's smileys/reply/others, and in the "others" menu, there is no edit menu.

[t3chguy]

Whooops, posted the wrong one:

[MightyCreak]

We agree this is only in develop, right? Or at least that it's not on desktop Linux?

[aaronraimist]

We agree this is only in develop, right?

No. It was released in July with Riot 1.3. You also need to be logged in to a up to date homeserver.

[jryans]

@MightyCreak The editing feature should be enabled for everyone for a while now. Please open a new issue if you aren't seeing it, so we can work out what's wrong.

[MightyCreak]

Yep sorry, I added a previous comment and deleted it right after because I needed to try something first.

So, TLDR: good news, it works on Riot/desktop on Linux.

The thing is, I was looking at the buttons on a message where I uploaded an image which, apparently, is not editable. Testing on a text message, it was working as expected.

Sorry for the confusion.