Does Teams Show Edited Messages? Yes, With an Edited Label
Teams marks an edited message with an Edited label that everyone in the chat sees. Nobody is notified again and nobody in the chat can open the old text, but a notification or a missed-activity email may already hold it. Edit steps, read receipts, and the admin settings.
On this page
No, Teams does not notify anyone when you edit a message. Everyone in the chat or channel sees the new text with an Edited label next to it, but Teams sends no new alert for the edit, and people in the chat cannot open the earlier version: Teams has no edit history for users. The original can survive in two places. A banner or phone notification may already have shown it, and a missed-activity email keeps the text as it was sent. Under a retention policy, compliance admins can also find every earlier version.
Teams also shows when you read and type, and when you are active. Your status goes Away after about 5 minutes with no input on the computer.
What others see when you edit or delete a Teams message
| You | What others see | Notified again? |
|---|---|---|
| Edit a message | The new text and an Edited label | No |
| Delete a message | "This message has been deleted" | No |
| Read their message | A Seen eye icon, if read receipts are on | No |
| Start typing | A typing indicator | No |
The Edited label appears in 1:1 chats, group chats and channel posts, on desktop, web and mobile. It does not say what changed or when. If someone already saw your message in a desktop banner, on their phone lock screen or in a missed-activity email, they saw the original text, and editing does not change what they read.
Does Teams show edit history?
Not to people in the chat. Teams has no "view edits" option, so a coworker sees only the latest text. Your company is a different case. Microsoft's retention documentation says that when a user edits a chat or channel message during the retention period, "the original message is copied" to a hidden folder, where eDiscovery can search it. What admins can pull up is in can my employer see deleted Teams messages. Screenshots are the one thing Teams never reports; see does Teams notify screenshots.
How to edit a message in Teams
- Desktop or web: hover over your message, select More options (...), then Edit. Change the text and press Enter.
- Mobile: press and hold your message, then tap Edit.
- To delete: More options, then Delete. The deleted-message line shows you an Undo link.
If Edit is missing, your organization turned it off in the messaging policy. You can only edit your own messages.
Does Teams show read receipts?
Yes, in 1:1 chats and in group chats of 20 people or fewer. A check mark means the message was sent, and an eye icon means it was seen. In a group chat, select More options > Read by on your message to see who read it. Channel posts have no read receipts.
To turn yours off, go to Settings and more (...) > Settings > Privacy and switch off Read receipts. That works both ways: others stop seeing when you read their messages, and you stop seeing when they read yours. If the switch is missing, your admin set read receipts on or off for everyone.
Slack has no read receipts at all; the comparison is in does Slack have read receipts. The typing indicator in Teams is covered in does Teams show when you are typing.
Admin settings for editing and read receipts
Admins control both in the Teams admin center under Messaging > Messaging policies, or in PowerShell with the Teams module:
# stop users from editing and deleting sent messages
Set-CsTeamsMessagingPolicy -Identity Global -AllowUserEditMessage $false -AllowUserDeleteMessage $false
# read receipts: UserPreference (each user decides), Everyone (always on) or None (off)
Set-CsTeamsMessagingPolicy -Identity Global -ReadReceiptsEnabledType UserPreference
A policy change can take a few hours to reach every user. Firms that must keep records often turn editing off, so the message people see is always the one that was sent.
Teams vs Slack on edited messages
Both show a label: Teams says Edited, Slack says (edited). Neither lets other members see the old version. The Slack side, including who can still read the old text, is in does Slack show edited messages. Slack sends no read receipts, while Teams does in small chats. The Slack side of what gets logged is in does Slack notify when you leave a channel. What Teams shows when you leave a group chat is in does Teams notify when you leave a chat.
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