When I asked Slack customer support whether it was possible to restore edited or deleted messages or view edit history, I received the answer that it “cannot be done.”

Slack Cannot Restore or View History of Edited/Deleted Messages

Apparently, Slack cannot restore edited or deleted messages or view edit history, even with administrator privileges.

• Help Request | Slack

You can send messages from the Help Request page, but there’s also a chat widget in the bottom right where you can chat.

Below is the chat log of my question to Slack CS.

(me): Hi, can I restore the edited message?

(cs): So you’ve edited a message but you’d like to restore it back its previous, unedited version?

(me): Actually, we want to see the raw message before edited or deleted for evidence.

(cs): Ah I see. I’m really sorry to hear about that.

(me): np

(cs): Unfortunately, the edit logs for messages aren’t archived so we wouldn’t be able to provide you with those.

(me): Also deleted message ?

(cs): Correct — basically the same principle as editing a message.

(me): Okay! Thanks :)

Settings to Prohibit Message Editing/Deletion in Slack

Apparently, Slack cannot restore edited or deleted messages or view edit history, even with administrator privileges.

However, there seems to be a setting option to prevent message editing and deletion in the first place, so if cases arise where people argue about “I wrote/didn’t write that message,” it might be good to turn off the editing and deletion features.

At https://my.slack.com/admin/settings#message_editing there’s an item called “Message Editing & Deletion” where you can change these settings.

Below is the chat log with Slack CS where they told me about this:

(cs): No problem — sorry again. I'm not sure if it helps but there's a setting on your team that would prevent users from editing or deleting their messages so you could try that out.

(me): oh, really?

(cs): Yep. I think it would have to be adjusted by a team owner but let me grab a link for you. (cs): Do you have access to this page? https://my.slack.com/admin/settings#message_editing (cs): I mean, you’ll definitely have access but does it bring you to “Message Editing & Deletion”?

(me): Yes, I have admin role. I can see it.

(cs): Okay cool. So you can adjust editing at deletion there.

(me): Thanks, I’ll turn on this settings.

(cs): I really hope that helps!

(me): Thanks for good info!

(cs): No worries! Good luck!

Slack’s policy of “we don’t save message edit history, but if you don’t want editing/deletion, you can disable it in settings” is simple to implement from an engineering perspective, which is good.

Also, the Slack customer support team’s response was kind, which gave me the impression that it’s truly a great service.

That’s all from the Gemba.