Edit or delete a message
By default, Zulip allows you to edit the content of your messages within 10
minutes of when you send them. Organization administrators can change the
time limit, remove the time limit, or remove the ability to edit messages
entirely.
-
Hover over a message to reveal three icons on the right.
-
Click the pencil () icon.
-
After making the changes to your message in the message editing box, click
the Save button to save the changes you made to your message.
Message editing time limit
Depending on your organization settings, Zulip may be configured with a time
limit within which you may edit a message (e.g. 10 minutes). As soon as that
limit has passed, the pencil () icon
changes to a file () icon.
Deleting messages
If you wish you hadn't sent a message at all, deleting the content
of the message will cause the message to be
displayed as (deleted)
. The original sender and timestamp of the
message will still be displayed, and the original content of the
message is still accessible via Zulip's edit history feature. This
can be the least confusing option for other users.
Delete a message completely
For cases where someone accidentally shared secret information publicly
(e.g. you posted an employee's salary), it can make sense to delete a
message completely, so that the original content is not available in the
message's edit history.
Organization administrators can always delete any message. By default,
non-admins cannot delete messages (including their own), though this can be
changed by an organization administrator.
To delete a message:
-
Hover over a message to reveal three icons on the right.
-
Click the down chevron ().
-
Select the Delete message option from the dropdown to delete that message.
If you don't see the Delete message option, it means you don't have
permissions to delete that message.
It's important to understand that anyone who received the message
before you deleted it could have made a copy of its content. So if you
accidentally shared secret information that you can change, like a
password, you may want to change that password regardless of whether
you also delete the message.