Cannot Pin or Unpin Messages Older Than the Post Edit Time Limit After Upgrading to v11.7.0

Applies to: Mattermost Server v11.7.0 to v11.7.14, and v11.8.0 to v11.11.3 (verified through v11.11.3); controlled by ServiceSettings.PostEditTimeLimit

Status: Fixed in v11.7.15 and v12.0.0

Symptoms: After upgrading to v11.7.0, users cannot pin or unpin messages older than the configured post edit time limit (for example, 2 days).

🛑 Problem

From v11.7.0, the post edit time limit applies to any post change, including message, file IDs, props, and the pinned state. Pinning or unpinning a post older than ServiceSettings.PostEditTimeLimit (for example, 172800 seconds for 2 days) is rejected with HTTP 400. Before v11.7.0, pin and unpin had no time-limit check. v11.7.15 and v12.0.0 restore that behavior: the limit again covers only post content.

Symptoms

{"timestamp":"2026-06-15 11:40:53.988 +02:00","level":"debug","msg":"Post edit is only allowed for 172800 seconds. Please ask your System Administrator for details.","caller":"web/context.go:118","path":"/api/v4/posts/ggjq1gzghpnptpbm6ix8cd88ey/pin","err_where":"saveIsPinnedPost","http_code":400,"error":"saveIsPinnedPost: Post edit is only allowed for 172800 seconds. Please ask your System Administrator for details."}

• Pinning or unpinning messages older than the post edit time limit fails.
• Pinning worked before the upgrade to v11.7.0.
• Misleading: the webapp still offers Pin to Channel and Unpin from Channel on old posts, so the action appears available and fails without a visible error.

✅ Solution

Upgrading to a fixed release removes the time-limit check from pin and unpin. Editing message text, props, and file attachments stays limited by ServiceSettings.PostEditTimeLimit.

Upgrade to a Fixed Release

Upgrade to v11.7.15 or later on the v11.7 line, or to v12.0.0 or later. Releases v11.8.0 to v11.11.3 do not contain the fix.

⚠️ Important: A request that changes the pinned state and the message content together is still rejected for posts older than the limit.

Until You Upgrade

Raise the limit or set it to -1 (unlimited) in the permission scheme under System Console > User Management > Permissions, or in config.json:

"ServiceSettings": {
    "PostEditTimeLimit": -1
}

Restart: restart the server after editing config.json directly. To revert, restore the previous value (the default is -1, unlimited).

⚠️ Important: This mitigation also lifts the limit for message edits. The documentation lists PostEditTimeLimit under deprecated settings, but it is still the single source of truth: the permission scheme in the System Console writes the same value to config.json or the Configurations table.

Verify the Fix

As a user, pin and unpin a message older than the configured limit. The Pinned indicator appears and clears, and the message enters and leaves the channel's pinned messages list. The saveIsPinnedPost error no longer appears in the server log.

Additional Resources

• Post Edit Time Limit (deprecated settings documentation)