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The following is an excerpt from an explanation by my language partner about
the difference between "simple past" 送りました and 送っておきました。 She discussed a
situation where she first sent me new-years stickers on Skype before sending
me another message on italki where she talked about her sending the stickers
on Skype before sending the message on italki with a 送っておきました construction.

> 「送りました」 の場合、過去形になっているので、メッセージを書くよりも前に送ったことになりますが、メッセージとの関係は示されていません。

I think that よりも前に means something along the lines of "from before", although
I don't really know what this も does here. My attempt at translation:

> In case of '送りました', because it is past form, even though it takes the
> meaning of having it (=the Skype stickers) sent from before writing the
> message, it doesn't demonstrate the relationship with the message.
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2018-01-22T20:55:39.190
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grammar
Did I interpret the interaction of より and 前 correctly?
The function of 「よりも」 in this case would indicate a meaning of 'more than', or
'even more ____ '.

The use of も to mean 'even' is demonstrated below:

> Aをしても Even if I do A.
>
> Aでもない Not even A.
>
> それよりも, A. Even more than that, A. /// Rather than that, A.

My interpretation of what your language partner was saying would be:

> As regards my use of 「送りました」, as it is in the past-tense form, I was
> indicating that I sent them (the stickers) EVEN before composing a message,
> not referencing the actual message.
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2018-01-22T22:58:12.023
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> メッセージを書く **よりも前に** 送ったことになりますが、

The 「よりも前に」 means "before" or "earlier than". (より means "than", and 前に means
"earlier".)

You can rephrase the sentence without changing the meaning:

> メッセージを書く **より前に** 送ったことになりますが、  
>  メッセージを書く **前に** 送ったことになりますが、

"although it would mean that (I) sent it before writing the message, ..."

「より前に」 sounds more explicit than just 「前に」, and 「よりも前に」 sounds a bit more
emphatic than 「より前に」/「前に」.

As for the も:

> よりも〘連語〙⇒ より（格助詞）  
>  （明鏡国語辞典）

* * *

Sidenote: You can't replace より(も)前に with 前に when it follows a noun, e.g.

> 「山田さんより(も)前に着いた。」（×山田さん前に着いた。）  
>  "I arrived before Yamada-san. / I arrived earlier than Yamada-san."
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