Signal-desktop: Feature request: Edit sent messages

[fmorales]

• [x ] I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates
  

---

Feature Request

I would like to edit or delete my messages after I send them.

Spec

• pressing ⬆️(Up Arrow) in the edit pane opens previous message for editing.
• Add 'edit' option to the '...' menu.
• Option to set opt-in/opt-out for message editing.

Platform info

Signal version: 1.14.2

Operating System: MacOS 10.13.6

Linked device version: n/a

[fmorales]

I saw this in #2343 when I came looking to make the request. I didn't find it broken out anywhere yet. Consider this my +1.

[five-c-d]

I would phrase this feature-request as "the ability to send-an-alteration-request about a message I have previously sent out" ... because, when I click 'reply' in signalapp it is guaranteed that I will be quoted-reply-ing to a particular message that I just clicked ... whereas, when I click the hypothetical 'edit'-menu-item on a particular message there IS NO GUARANTEE that in fact the previously-sent message will actually be edited on all remote devices (i.e. those that previously received the original content). Thus, instead of 'edit' something more like 'send a correction' or maybe the more vague 'send updated content' would be more accurate? Cf:

• https://community.signalusers.org/t/edit-or-delete-messages-after-theyre-sent/975
• https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/1764#issuecomment-50807875
• https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/issues/997
• https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/226#issuecomment-126378543 (classic WONTFIX response but reasoning behind the decision was not explicated)

See also the carefully-chosen naming used for the 'disappearing messages' feature, as opposed to the 'we guarantee your messages will self-destruct securely' hypothetical version of that feature. If there is a setting that allows me to keep my chat-history tidy aka 'disappearing messages' ... should there not be a feature that allows me to tidy up the chat-history of my correspondents aka the 'send updated content' feature-request?

It is annoying to have to say "s/John/Jane/" in a dedicated message every time I goof up sending something out with incorrect info, or "s/Joohn/John/" for an embarrassing typo, or similar problems. It is especially annoying when I get confused by the churning UI/UX and inadvertently send a romantic message to my 99-member business-groupchat... that I intended to send my spouse in a different 1-to-1 conversation entirely!

[achooie]

Just my 2 cents:

I think editing/deleting messages is a bad idea. I think chat history should be immutable, as a courtesy for the parties involved. I like being able to look back and reference something said, and being sure of the accuracy. This is my preference for personal messages; I'd be interested to see if anyone else feels the same way.

As an aside, related to the 99-member business-groupchat, my anecdote happened on slack: some spicy messages were exchanged between two coworkers in a public channel in our workspace that were subsequently deleted, but contributed to the reason one of the employees left the company. It would be useful to be able to see that record without having to request a data export from slack, as a reference going forward. As for accidental messages, I'd say that I am always careful, and always review a message I've typed for accuracy before I send it.

[EgbertW]

I'm strongly in favor of this feature request. I'm very used to the ability to edit messages in Telegram, Wire Messenger, Discord and Slack and use it all the time to correct typo's.

I understand that there can not be any guarantee that the message is actually changed, and I can also see why people dislike the feature. Maybe it could be opt-out so that for people that do not like the idea would get a diff under a message rather then applying the diff to the message. Or maybe add a feature to see message history.

The same goes for deleting messages - viable options could be to delete them completely, replace them with a 'This message is deleted' notification or apply a strike trough to the message so that it is still readable. Perhaps user configurable.

This is one of the lacking features that keeps me from switching over to Signal completely.

[demaniak]

If you can can delete a message (either automatically, or manually), being able to edit a message seems like a natural capability to have.

For those looking for an immutable chat history - I would suggest this is NOT the app for your needs.
But if enough users feel it is needed, maybe it could be implemented as an optional setting for groups?

[five-c-d]

Folks, I suggest further discussion about the ability to edit-or-delete sent messages, be moved from github over to the thread here == https://community.signalusers.org/t/edit-or-delete-messages-after-theyre-sent/975 ...you can login there at signalUsers with your github credentials, if you like. I'd rather this github issue 2545 not get locked-to-contributors, in case somebody writes a pull-request to solve the problem :-)

But for commentary ABOUT the feature-request, and design suggestions, and such things: that stuff is meant to happen purely within the signalUsers forum -- github issue-tracker is supposed to be reserved for bugfixes only, plus any of the rare feature-requests that the github devs see as needing to remain "open" in their issue-lists and milestones and whatnot. This one has been left open, which some might interpret as a good omen about eventually getting done. So, I'd rather not see it closed prior to that truly happening.

People that are in favor of implementation can use the github reaction-emoji to add +1 to the top-post here, people against can add -1 reactions the same way. (Login to github and click the smiley-dropdown-menu on the top right of the posting.) That is better than actually commenting, since actually commenting emails all 273 repo watchers of Signal-Desktop... only some of whom care about this feature-request, whereas most of them care deeply about code-pushes and bug-reports... and we don't want to scare them off, please, with excess signalUsers-type discussion-traffic here in github

[scottnonnenberg-signal]

Thanks @five-c-d. I was considering locking to stem the trickle of debate. :0)

[PetziPotato]

Any news on this? I'm also very interested in this feature, it's annoying to be unable to correct typos. It should, however, have a 30 minute time limit (for example), so you can't edit very old messages.

[new-mikha]

If immutable history is something the code owners are caring about - why not allow to edit with keeping editing history then? This would allow to fix typos, but still have a track of whatever's been sent. This history might even be searchable, or expandable into separate messages, etc.

[b07n37]

that's retarded plain and simple

[Donnie]

I think this issue needs to be raised on https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Server . I am for editable messages with viewable history.

[EvanHahn-Signal]

I wanted to provide an update here. Though we don't support editing of messages, we do support "delete for everyone", allowing you to delete a message for all of a conversation's participants. See this support article to learn more about this.

Again—this isn't an "edit messages" feature, but I hope this helps.

[ecobux]

Any news on that? I think the thumbs up on the original message clearly show that people like this idea.
This feature would really help to convince people to switch from other chat solutions to Signal.

[alphashuro]

This is the only thing stopping me from switching to Signal as well, Telegram has the ability to edit messages and fix typos, grammar and add forgotten words etc..

we do support "delete for everyone"

Deleting a message works if you've just sent the message you're deleting, but if you've sent a few messages (i.e. a thread) or sent a really long message it becomes a lot more inconvenient to have to delete the whole thread or the long message just to do the fixes.

What is the reason for not adding this feature? Is it purely because of difficulty/code or is there some decision amongst the maintainers to never support this?

[JaxonWright]

Editing is something that could be enabled for only a minute or so after sending. That would eliminate spelling mistakes or sending too early, but also preserve the history.

[fun2sh]

Just my 2 cents:

I think editing/deleting messages is a bad idea. I think chat history should be immutable, as a courtesy for the parties involved. I like being able to look back and reference something said, and being sure of the accuracy. This is my preference for personal messages; I'd be interested to see if anyone else feels the same way.

As an aside, related to the 99-member business-groupchat, my anecdote happened on slack: some spicy messages were exchanged between two coworkers in a public channel in our workspace that were subsequently deleted, but contributed to the reason one of the employees left the company. It would be useful to be able to see that record without having to request a data export from slack, as a reference going forward. As for accidental messages, I'd say that I am always careful, and always review a message I've typed for accuracy before I send it.

You can have Audit history for Edit message if people feel strongly about Messages being immutable. Personally, I make a lot of typos and would like to edit my text to correct spellings and grammar.
Also, please make it similar to slack, telegram where you can hit up arrow key to edit ur last message

[kenden]

Another equivalent ticket for Signal-Android: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/10190

[jpgnz]

+1

It's the last feature now that tagging has been added stopping a migration from Telegram. The challenge most people have is this is something they've become accustomed to in most other (non-FB) chat services, and it's _weird_ not having it.

[AndrewDawnbringer]

Yes please. +1

[GianniRiva]

Yes, please. On mobile as well.
It would help mass adoption by appealing to many users from:
• Whatsapp, as they would find it new and useful
• Telegram, as they would not miss a feature they love
Anyway, thank you for your great work!

[sebrk]

This needed badly. At least on a per-group basis. Typos somethimes destroy the whole meaning of a comment.

[skjerns]

This is one of the major features lacking from Signal - it is very useful for many of us. Also on Telegram editing is only possible for a certain timeframe - this could be done as well in Signal (if even just 15 minutes!) and a edit history should be included as well to help mitigate confusion.

[nicolaskopp]

Just my 2 cents:

I think editing/deleting messages is a bad idea. I think chat history should be immutable, as a courtesy for the parties involved. I like being able to look back and reference something said, and being sure of the accuracy. This is my preference for personal messages; I'd be interested to see if anyone else feels the same way.

As an aside, related to the 99-member business-groupchat, my anecdote happened on slack: some spicy messages were exchanged between two coworkers in a public channel in our workspace that were subsequently deleted, but contributed to the reason one of the employees left the company. It would be useful to be able to see that record without having to request a data export from slack, as a reference going forward. As for accidental messages, I'd say that I am always careful, and always review a message I've typed for accuracy before I send it.

For integrity, one could handle it like Telegram and display "edited" and a timestamp, so that everyone involved knows that the content of the message has changed.

Edit (heh! :-) ): Or even provide edit history and save all steps in between.

[mbluett88]

Yes please: +1

[huehnerlady]

Any update on this? I would say the github style is quite nice to do, if it is a storage space you could even limit it to the original and the last version?
Or give it a time frame - eg. 1 hour?

But this is one of the key features for me not to use Signal as main messenger. I am just a person who types and after sending sees all the typos and wants to fix them ;)

[MattTree]

But this is one of the key features for me not to use Signal as main messenger. I am just a person who types and after sending sees all the typos and wants to fix them ;)

Lacking an edit message feature is why I use Discord over Signal. I came to this issue to see if there were any plans for this feature, but alas.

[Karhal]

Hello, humble suggestion here

I understand the immutability issue so, to edit a previously sent message, what if a new one is sent and simply identified as the "correction" of a previously received message (i don't know how they can be identified) in the metadata.

Now the client app knows that's an edit so it will not display it as a new message but instead visually replaces the content of the mentioned message on the client side. This would be a graphic tweak only and wouldn't change the actual process i guess ?
Please let me know if i am off topic, i am not a java developer and never touched the signal code so pardon me if my suggestion is naive

Cheers

[korg91]

I agree that this feature is fundamental in a modern messaging app, and I'd like to add that at the moment it's very frustrating also when it comes to _Note to Self_. I mean, if _Note to Self_ is really meant as a way to take notes, it has to be possible to edit the notes.

[demesos]

I was just searching for how to edit sent messages and saw this feature request from 2018. I also think that this is an important feature for many of us and the possibility to edit a message shortly after it's being sent wouldn't affect an immutable history more than a delete message feature does. The best way would be probably an option to set the time for how long you can fix your messages per group.