The message window

There is only one message window in the cabinet: it is where a chain message is written and where a one-off broadcast is written. It opens from the Message row — in the broadcast form or on a chain message’s page.

Inside is a prototype of what the user will receive: one bubble, Telegram-style, with three slots:

• Add a photo, video or file;
• Write a message (or Write a caption when there is an image on top);
• Add button.

One message here is one Telegram message. You cannot build two out of it: the window will not let such a message through.

Nothing you type gets lost

Everything you do in the window applies at once — there is no separate tick in the header. Go back with the “‹” arrow or swipe the window away — what you typed stays. For a chain message it waits on the message page and is kept by that page’s Done.

While a file is uploading, the window in the app does not close: the progress shows as a ring on the attachment, and once it is done you can close the window as usual.

Attachments

The Add a photo, video or file row opens the Attachment sheet. The kinds are grouped: In this message (what is already there: tap the row to view it, the cross on the right removes it), Add (what fits alongside it) and Replace … (everything else). The heading of that group names what goes away: “Replace the photo”, “Replace the voice message”, “Replace the album”. At the bottom of the sheet is Done: it closes the sheet — whatever you picked is already in the message.

Viewing opens as a sheet on top of “Attachment”: you can zoom a photo, watch a video, and listen to a voice message; “⋯” in the sheet header has the same items as the row. On the site a PDF opens right in the sheet, other files and tracks open with Open in a new tab.

Tapping any attachment in the bubble — a photo, an album, a GIF, a video circle, a voice message, a track or a file — also opens “Attachment”.

In the app you can also add an attachment from the input line above the keyboard: the paperclip to the left of the line opens a sheet with tabs Photo/video, GIF, Video circle, Voice, Audio and File. Pick a tab and the sheet shows what that kind needs: the gallery, recording or choosing a file. A tab for a kind that doesn't fit right now is dimmed: tapping it shows the reason. The paperclip only adds; to replace or edit what is already there, tap the attachment in the bubble, as before. The first time, the app asks for photo access: allow all photos or pick specific ones. If access is off, the app offers to open your phone settings.

The website has this sheet too. On a phone it opens with the paperclip to the left of the input line; on a wide screen, with the round paperclip button to the left of the bubble. The tabs at the bottom of the sheet are Photo/video, Voice, Video circle, GIF and File (the File tab has two buttons, Audio and File). The Open button opens the file picker on your device; once you choose a file, the sheet closes and the file is placed in the message. On the Voice tab you can record a message with the microphone: the check mark in the header adds the recording. A kind that cannot sit next to what is already there replaces it, just like the “Replace …” group of the “Attachment” sheet. A tab for a kind that doesn't fit right now is dimmed: tapping it shows the reason.

Under every kind it says what it does:

• Photo or video — “Sent as a photo or a video; the message text becomes the caption. Up to 10 files in one message.”
• GIF — “A short video without sound, played in a loop.” A GIF is made only from a video: pictures are not offered for it. After you choose the video, the GIF editor opens: the frame (free or 1:1, 4:5, 16:9, 9:16), zoom and the segment with two handles.
• Voice — “Any sound becomes a voice message with a waveform.” You do not record anything: an ordinary audio file will do, and we convert it into a voice message. A voice message made from a file opens the trim editor before it is added: choose the start and the end — only the selected part is sent. A voice message recorded on the spot is sent whole. In a browser you can record a voice message with the microphone: tap the red circle, stop the recording, listen to it and tap the check mark; a ready audio file is chosen with Files at the bottom.
• Video circle — “Any video becomes a round video: a square from the centre of the frame, up to 60 seconds — you choose which minute to take.” After you choose the video, the circle editor opens: the frame, zoom and a segment of up to a minute are set there and open the same way on Edit. In the app, a video circle can also be recorded on the spot or taken from the gallery — Choose a video — or from Files.
• Audio — “Sent as a track with its title. Up to 10 files in one message.” The trim editor opens after you choose the file: pick the start and the end — only the selected part is sent.
• File — “Any file up to 50 MB. Up to 10 files in one message.”

Rows in “In this message” have a menu: in the app, press and hold the row; on the site, use “⋯” on the right. A track or a file has View and Rename: the name is what the person sees in Telegram (the track title, or the file name); type your own and confirm with the tick. A video circle or a GIF has View and Edit: pick the frame and the segment again, and the new file takes the place of the old one.

A kind that does not fit right now is not hidden: the row stays greyed out and says why (for example, “An album is sent without buttons”).

Worth remembering about individual kinds:

• a video message is sent without a caption — the window says so under the bubble;
• an album is sent without buttons: a message with buttons can contain only one photo;
• a caption for a photo, video or file is up to 1024 characters;
• if what you add would make the message go as more than one, the window asks right away: you picked several photos and the message has buttons — “Keep one photo” or “Remove buttons”; you picked a video circle and there is text or buttons — “Remove text”, “Remove buttons” or “Remove text and buttons”, or “Do not add the video circle”; the text is longer than 1024 characters with a photo or video — on “Done” the window offers “Remove media”. “Cancel” changes nothing;
• a file that is too heavy or too long is not rejected — the window offers a fix instead, the Compress and Trim chips.
• a file Telegram will not accept does not go into the message: the window tells you why straight away and offers “Pick another file” or “Cancel” — no row and no error is left by the bubble;
• you do not have to pick a format: for an iPhone photo (HEIC), a phone video (MOV) or a WAV sound the window offers Convert — tap it and the file goes into the message in a form Telegram opens. Nothing is converted silently: a file that already suits the channel is left alone. The exception is a photo: a large shot is scaled down on your own device right away to the size Telegram shows it at (GIFs, images with transparency and photos that are already small are left alone); if the photo is still over the limit after that, the window offers to compress it further. If the conversion fails, the window says “Telegram does not accept a file in this format” and will not send that message — replace the file.

Text

In the app the text is edited in an input line above the keyboard, like in Telegram. Tap the text in the bubble (or the hint while there is no text yet) — the keyboard opens with a line holding your text above it; the line grows as you type. You can also long-press the text in the bubble and choose Edit; the same menu has Copy text. The bubble changes as you type. The check mark to the right of the line finishes editing: the keyboard and the line hide, and the text stays in the bubble. Tapping outside the line or scrolling finishes editing too.

On the website on a phone it works the same way: tap the text in the bubble, and an input line appears at the bottom with a paperclip on the left and a check mark on the right. The line grows up to twelve lines, then the text scrolls inside it; close to the length limit a character counter appears under the line. The bubble shows the new text once you finish editing with the check mark. On a wide screen the text is edited right inside the bubble.

Formatting works like in Telegram: select a word or a phrase, and the selection menu shows a Format item with Quote, Spoiler, Bold, Italic, Monospace, Link, Strikethrough, Underline and Code. Choosing the same item again on the same selection removes the format. The bubble shows the text the way the recipient will see it in Telegram; tapping a spoiler reveals it, tapping code copies it.

A link in the text pulls in a site card by itself; you can see it in the bubble.

Buttons

Add button opens the Button page — cards one under another. The first one holds three rows with their current values: Label, Placement and Colour; tapping a row opens a sheet where the value is changed. Below is the What it does card with four kinds to choose from, and under it the settings of the kind you ticked. At the very bottom is Delete button.

Label is what the user sees; until you write it, the row reads “No label”. What it does — open a link, add a label, unsubscribe or open a mini app. What each kind does is described in Chain messages, the section “Buttons under a message”.

Placement

Two rows to choose from: Own row and In the same row as the previous one. Buttons in one row share the width equally.

That is how any layout is built: two buttons side by side with a wide one under them — give the second button “In the same row as the previous one” and leave the third on “Own row”. The first button of a message has no Placement row at all: it always starts a row. More than four buttons will not fit in a row — the row goes dim and says “This row already has four buttons”.

Colour

Four rows with dots: Regular, Blue, Green, Red. The hint reads “The shade in Telegram may differ” — in the prototype bubble the colour is only an impression; the real colouring is done by Telegram.

What to reply

The “Add a label” and “Unsubscribe” buttons also have a What to reply row — a short note that pops up at the top of the user’s chat right after the tap (“Got it”, “We won’t write again”). Leave it empty and the tap passes silently.

What saves your changes

The tick in the top right saves; the cross closes and saves nothing. That holds both in a single row’s sheet and on the button page itself: until you tap the page’s tick, no new button appears and an existing one stays as it was. An address that does not look like an address is not accepted — “Check the address” appears under the field.

What the “Message” row shows

On the right of the row you see what you have put together: “Text”, “Photo, caption, buttons (2)”, “Voice message”, “Album (4), caption”. Nothing there means “Empty”, and the form will not move on.

Read next

• Chain messages — when a message goes out and to whom.
• One-off broadcast — one message to everybody at once.