TipBITS: Edit Slack Messages More Easily on the Mac

Originally published at: TipBITS: Edit Slack Messages More Easily on the Mac - TidBITS

A recent update to Slack alerted Adam Engst that the app had an option to restore a much-missed feature to open the last message for editing with a single keystroke. If you’ve been pining for that feature, read on.

hi Adam,

at least in Messages in Monterey it is possible to delete a message via context menu.

If I notice a mistake in a Message I have just sent, I copy the whole text, delete the message, start a new message, paste and correct and send again.

greetings from Freiburg, Germany, Thomas_U

macOS 12.3.1

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So, Slack extends Accessibility as a category to include OCD… Nice!

I can imagine so many ways that people’s lives can become better (or worse?) if this catches on, like light switches you can program to turn on and off ‘just the right amount’ of times while only having to touch them once, etc. (Seriously, no disrespect to anyone who suffers; I just wonder whether whether that would make things better or worse, while what Slack has done makes things obviously better.)

I was an Android (Motorola) user for 10 years; I suffered the ignominy of green texts and such and the (kind-hearted) derision of my kids. After 2 phones went in the toilet in one year, and they wouldn’t even allow advanced replacement, as in “no phone for a week”, I switched to iOS – store near me, no issue w/ repairs/warranty, blue texts.

BUT, the biggest downside of the switch is working with text. Examples:

  1. In Gmail app for Android you’ve been able to use color for years; iOS not.
  2. Android text selection is simple and intuitive, iOS, much less so. In the OS and in Gmail app, simply works better.
  3. In Messages, arguably the most immediate benefit of iOS, you cannot select part of a message, can’t copy a word, only the whole text. I want this literally every day.

Any ideas about 3rd party improvements, bring 'em on.

This will delete the message for the SENDER only, remember, once it’s out there, yeah, it’s out there.

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