Yes, you can preview LinkedIn messages before sending them. LinkedIn allows users to see a preview of their messages before actually sending them out. This preview feature ensures you can double check the message content, confirm the recipients, and make any edits or corrections before officially sending it.
Why preview LinkedIn messages?
Previewing LinkedIn messages before sending is highly recommended for several reasons:
- Avoid mistakes – Typos, incorrect info, wrong attachments can happen. Previewing gives you a chance to catch them.
- Confirm recipients – Make sure you’re messaging the right connections.
- Check tone – Scan for unintended messages tones that could be misinterpreted.
- Edit message – Tweak the wording, add/remove info, modify as needed.
Overall, previewing LinkedIn messages helps ensure you send clear, polished, intentional messages to the right people. It’s a simple way to prevent embarrassing errors.
How to preview on desktop
Previewing LinkedIn messages on the desktop website is easy:
- Click the Messages icon in the top nav bar.
- Compose your message in the text box at the bottom.
- Make sure the correct connections are added in the “To:” field.
- Click the “Preview” button to the right of the send button.
- A popup will display the message preview.
In the preview popup, you’ll see exactly how your message will appear to recipients. Carefully review the content, tone, formatting, etc. If everything looks good, click “Send” at the bottom of the popup.
How to preview on mobile
The LinkedIn mobile app also lets you preview messages:
- Tap the Messages icon on the bottom nav bar.
- Tap the pencil icon to start a new message.
- Enter your message text into the text field.
- Tap recipients to select them.
- Tap the upward arrow icon to open the message preview.
- Review your message and make any changes.
- Finally, tap “Send” to deliver the message.
The mobile preview looks very similar to the desktop version, just in a compact popup screen. You get the same ability to confirm and perfect your message before sending.
Additional LinkedIn message tips
Beyond previewing, here are some extra tips for LinkedIn messaging best practices:
- Customize salutations – Avoid generic openings like “Hi”, “Hello”, or “Dear”. Use first names when possible.
- Introduce yourself – Briefly explain who you are in the first line or two.
- Be concise – Get to the point quickly and avoid long blocks of text.
- Proofread – Double check spelling, grammar, and autocorrect issues.
- Adjust tone – Match the formality or casualness of the recipient.
- Stay professional – Keep an appropriate tone for a career site.
- Follow up – Circle back if you don’t get a response after 3-5 days.
Using the LinkedIn message preview along with the best practices above will help you communicate effectively and avoid awkward situations.
Preview feature limitations
While the LinkedIn message preview is useful, it does have a few limitations to be aware of:
- No image previews – Embedded images aren’t shown.
- No link previews – You can’t preview in-text hyperlinks.
- No dynamic content – Things like mentions don’t display.
- No mobile formatting – Desktop and mobile messages may differ.
- Text-only – Advanced formatting isn’t applied.
The preview mainly gives you a sense of the text content itself. Surrounding formatting and some other content may not be shown. Know that recipients will see a more fleshed out version.
Preview options for other sites
Many other popular communication platforms also offer some form of message preview feature, such as:
- Gmail – Shows basic previews of email drafts.
- Outlook – Lets you preview email messages before sending.
- Facebook Messenger – Has a “Preview” option before sending messages.
- WhatsApp – Allows users to preview messages before delivery.
- Skype – Gives the option to preview messages before sending.
- Slack – Shows a preview of your message before it’s posted.
Preview capabilities may differ across sites and apps, but they generally serve that vital purpose of letting you double check your messages before sending. This helps prevent errors and creates an overall more professional, polished messaging experience.
Can recipients see if you previewed a message?
No, recipients have no way of knowing if you previewed a message before sending it. The preview is solely for the sender’s benefit.
When looking at a received message, recipients simply see the delivered content. The preview itself is not included with the message data.
Previewing is essentially a background process unknown to the recipients. They only see the “final” sent message. So feel free to preview as much as needed without worrying about recipients being aware.
Preview feature options
For professional messaging platforms like LinkedIn, here are a few preview feature options they could offer to further improve the user experience:
- Full content previews – Show images, links, mentions, formatting etc.
- Mobile-desktop continuity – Make previews consistent across devices.
- Draft auto-save – Save message drafts to prevent lost previews.
- Quick edit – Enable fast in-preview editing without reopening the message.
- Recipient checking – Have better warnings about empty recipients.
- Image filters – Catch inappropriate images before sending.
Overall, the ability to preview at all is the most vital part. But added features like those above could improve the experience even more.
Why doesn’t every site have a preview?
There are a few possible reasons why some sites and apps don’t offer any kind of message preview feature:
- Complicated architecture – Adding previews may overly complicate their codebase.
- Older platforms – Preview wasn’t standard in early sites and apps.
- Resource constraints – Could require more data storage and bandwidth.
- Less need – Informal chatting may not require stringent previews.
- Speed focus – Want messaging to feel fast and lightweight.
- User familiarity – Long-time users come to expect no previews.
Still, as messaging becomes a bigger part of our digital lives, more and more platforms are likely to adopt preview capabilities in some form.
Should you always preview messages?
For most business or professional communication, you should make a habit of previewing messages whenever possible before sending them. The benefits of avoiding mistakes and perfecting your messages outweigh the small amount of extra time needed.
However, for more personal communication with close friends on informal platforms, previewing may not be as crucial. You likely have more leeway with typos or other minor issues.
So in summary:
- Always preview messages: Professional platforms like LinkedIn or work messengers.
- Sometimes preview: Casual messages to friends and family.
- Rarely preview: Quick informal chats with very close friends.
Use your own discretion based on the situation. But when in doubt, give your messages a quick preview.
Conclusion
Previewing LinkedIn messages before sending is a wise practice for any user. Take advantage of this built-in feature to confirm your content is clear and error-free before recipients view it.
Avoid awkward typos and recipients, unprofessional tones, and unclear messages. Put your best foot forward with well-crafted communications.
Along with other LinkedIn messaging best practices, consistently previewing sets you up for more successful professional interactions and relationship building.
