why is it so easy to edit an instant message but not an email after sending?

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Basically the title. For example, on things like Slack, WhatsApp, Teams and other IM services, you can edit messages after sending but with an email you can’t. I believe Microsoft Outlook has a feature that allows you to edit emails but afaik, it isn’t the same. What is the difference (technology wise) between the two that accounts for this difference?

Note: I know they are different systems. I’m asking what specific aspect of these applications makes emails difficult to edit, or would it (again, techwise) be easy to integrate this into an email system and for whatever reason, it hasn’t been done?

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3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

An email is the electronic version of physical mail. Think about it, once you write a letter and leave it in a post box, you can’t take it back and change it.

Email was built to replicate this process, once you hit send your message is not in your possession anymore and can’t be changed.

Instant messaging is a completely different application, and was built differently, including the idea that messages are always accessible by the sender.

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