The short answer is no, LinkedIn messages do not disappear on their own. Once a message is sent on LinkedIn, whether it’s an InMail or through the messaging section, it will stay in the recipient’s inbox until they delete it themselves. There is no set expiration date for LinkedIn messages.
InMail Messages
InMail is LinkedIn’s internal messaging system that allows you to contact anyone on LinkedIn, even if you’re not connected. InMails do not disappear from the recipient’s inbox after a certain period of time. The message will remain unless the recipient actively deletes it.
However, there are some circumstances where an InMail can get removed without the recipient deleting it:
- If the sender’s LinkedIn account gets closed or deleted, any InMails they sent will also be deleted.
- LinkedIn automatically deletes InMails that are marked as spam or abusive by the recipient.
- InMails sent to inactive accounts (accounts that have not been logged into for an extended time) may get periodically cleared out by LinkedIn.
So in summary, InMails do not have an expiration date and won’t disappear on their own. But LinkedIn may remove them in certain situations like closed accounts or spam.
Regular LinkedIn Messages
For regular LinkedIn messaging between connections, the same rules apply. These messages do not have an expiration and will stay in the inbox indefinitely until deleted.
These types of LinkedIn messages include:
- Messages between 1st level connections
- Group messages between connections in the same LinkedIn group
- Team messages between teammates connected through LinkedIn’s TeamLink feature
LinkedIn does not automatically delete these messages after a certain time period. The only ways they get removed are:
- The sender or recipient deletes the message thread.
- The sender’s account is closed or deleted.
- LinkedIn removes messages reported as abusive or spam.
So the recipient has complete control over when to delete messages in their inbox. LinkedIn will not delete messages on their behalf unless special circumstances like abuse reports.
Do LinkedIn Messages Have an Expiration Date?
No, there is no set expiration date or time limit for LinkedIn messages. They do not disappear after 24 hours, 30 days, or any other timeframe.
Platforms like Snapchat have popularized disappearing messages. But LinkedIn has not implemented any kind of disappearing messages feature at this time.
All messages on LinkedIn remain in inboxes unless actively deleted by the user. This applies to both InMail and regular messaging.
Does LinkedIn Automatically Delete Old Messages?
LinkedIn does not automatically delete or clear out old messages after a certain time period. Your inbox is under your full control.
However, there are some exceptions where LinkedIn will remove messages without the recipient deleting them:
- Closed accounts – Any messages sent by a user whose account is now closed or deleted will also be deleted.
- Spam/abuse reports – LinkedIn takes down messages that recipients report as abusive or spam.
- Inactive accounts – Messages sitting in long inactive inboxes may get cleared out every so often.
But in general, LinkedIn does not sweep through inboxes removing messages after they reach a certain age. Any automatic deletions are due to account closures or abuse reports, not simply old age.
Does LinkedIn Have Size Limits for Inboxes?
No, LinkedIn does not enforce any hard size limits on the number of messages a user can have in their inbox. Your inbox capacity is essentially unlimited.
However, for performance reasons LinkedIn may restrict how many messages load at one time. If you have an extremely large inbox, not all messages will load when you first view it.
But there are no restrictions on overall number of stored messages. Your inbox size can grow indefinitely large with no messages being deleted unless you remove them.
Should You Actively Delete Old LinkedIn Messages?
While LinkedIn won’t automatically remove old messages, it can be good practice to periodically clear out your inbox.
Here are some reasons you may want to actively delete old LinkedIn messages:
- Your inbox gets cluttered making it hard to find recent messages.
- Old messages with outdated information take up space.
- Keeping conversations with old connections you’re no longer engaging with.
- Harder to load messages if your inbox gets overcrowded.
Aim to keep your inbox tidy by frequently removing:
- Spam messages
- Messages irrelevant to you now
- Obsolete messages with outdated info
- Conversations that have run their course
With periodic clearing of old messages, you can keep your LinkedIn inbox focused.
How to Delete LinkedIn Messages
Deleting LinkedIn messages is easy to do through the website or mobile app.
On the LinkedIn Website:
- Go to the LinkedIn Messaging section.
- Open the message thread you want to delete.
- Click on the “More” menu in the upper right.
- Choose “Delete conversation.”
- Confirm the delete.
This will permanently delete the entire message thread from your inbox. Repeat for any other messages you want to remove.
On the Mobile App:
- Open the LinkedIn app and tap Messaging.
- Swipe left on a message thread to reveal a delete icon.
- Tap the trash can icon to delete the thread.
The mobile app also allows you to mass delete multiple threads at once using the “Select conversations” option.
Archiving Old LinkedIn Messages
If you want to keep old LinkedIn conversations but clear out your inbox, you can archive messages instead of deleting them.
Archiving removes messages from your inbox but saves them in a separate Archived folder.
To archive LinkedIn messages:
- Open the message thread.
- Click “Archive” from the “More” menu.
The thread will now be stored in Archived messages. You can access archived messages by filtering your inbox view.
Limits of Archived LinkedIn Messages
Archiving has some limitations to be aware of:
- You can only access archived messages on the LinkedIn website, not the mobile app.
- There is a limit of 250 threads you can archive.
- Archived messages may still get deleted if the sender’s account closes.
So archiving shouldn’t be seen as a way to indefinitely store all LinkedIn messages forever. But it does help organize your inbox.
What Happens When You Delete a LinkedIn Connection?
If you delete a connection from your LinkedIn network, your past message history and conversations with that person will also be deleted automatically.
So if you remove a connection, all your messages back and forth will disappear from both your inboxes at the same time.
Recovering Deleted LinkedIn Messages
Unfortunately, there is no way to recover deleted LinkedIn messages. Once you delete a message thread, it’s gone for good.
Some email providers like Gmail allow you to undo sent message deletions. But LinkedIn does not have any sort of Trash or Recovery options for deleted messages.
So be absolutely certain you want to permanently delete a conversation before removing it.
Key Takeaways
- LinkedIn messages never “expire” or disappear automatically. They remain indefinitely unless actively deleted.
- The only exceptions are closed accounts, spam/abuse reports, or long inactive inboxes.
- You have complete control over when to delete messages from your LinkedIn inbox.
- Periodically clearing your old messages can help keep your inbox organized.
- You can archive conversations to remove them from the inbox but still save them.
- Once you delete a LinkedIn message, there is no way to recover it.