Channels

Talk to your customers on Telegram, from the same inbox

Create a Telegram bot, connect it to Vera.Support, and every Telegram message lands in your inbox alongside your other channels. You can also have Telegram alert your agents when something needs attention.

This is for you if your customers already use Telegram and you would rather not watch another app all day. It is also how you get Telegram alerts for your agents when new messages come in.

Step by step

1

Activate the Telegram app

Go to Settings > Apps and activate Telegram. Nothing else in this guide will appear until you do.

2

Create your bot in Telegram

Open BotFather in Telegram and send /newbot. It asks for a name and a username, then hands you a token. If your bot already exists, send /mybots, pick the bot, and open API token.

3

Connect the bot to your account

Paste the token into Settings > Telegram > Token and click Synchronize now. Your site must use HTTPS for this to work.

4

Confirm the connection

If you want to be certain Telegram is delivering to you, check the webhook status using the Telegram API's getWebhookInfo method with your bot token.

5

Set up agent notifications

Go to Settings > Telegram > Notifications and click Activate. Enter the channel name at Settings > Telegram > Notifications > Channel name and save it before you create the channel in Telegram, because the name must match exactly.

6

Create the channel and add the bot

Create the channel in Telegram under that exact name, then add your synced bot to it as an administrator. Notifications follow your other notification settings; turn on All messages if you want one for every message.

Settings reference

SettingWhat it does
Settings > Telegram > Token Holds the API token BotFather gave you, which is what links your bot to your account.
Synchronize now Connects your bot using the token you saved, so Telegram starts delivering messages to your inbox.
Settings > Telegram > Notifications > Activate Turns on Telegram alerts for your agents.
Settings > Telegram > Notifications > Channel name The exact name of the Telegram channel where agent notifications are posted.
All messages Sends a notification for every single message rather than following your narrower notification rules.

Good to know

HTTPS is not optional

Telegram will only deliver messages to a site served over HTTPS. If synchronisation does not take, check this before anything else.

Save the channel name first

The channel name has to be saved in the panel before you create the channel in Telegram, and it must match exactly. Creating the channel first is the usual reason notifications never arrive.

The bot must be an administrator

Adding the bot to your notification channel as an ordinary member is not enough. Give it administrator rights in the channel.

Voice messages stay as audio

Speech recognition is not supported for Telegram audio messages, so you will not see a text version next to the player.

Rich messages may lose their formatting

Rich messages are converted for Telegram where possible. Anything that cannot be converted is removed from the message.

Follow-up and offline messages behave differently here

The follow-up message always sends on Telegram, even if an agent has already replied. The offline message sends, but without the timetable.

Common questions

Do I need a Telegram Business account or anything paid?
No. You create a bot with BotFather inside Telegram itself, and it gives you a token. Paste that token into Settings > Telegram > Token and synchronise.
How do I find the token for a bot I already made?
Open BotFather in Telegram and send /mybots. Choose your bot, then open API token. That is the same value you paste into Settings > Telegram > Token.
Why are my agent notifications not arriving in the channel?
The most common cause is the channel name. It must be saved at Settings > Telegram > Notifications > Channel name before you create the channel in Telegram, and the two must match exactly. Also check that the synced bot was added to the channel as an administrator.
Will the chatbot answer Telegram messages?
Yes. Telegram works with the chatbot and human takeover, as well as queue and routing, language detection, spelling correction, multilingual via translation and Google search.
Are voice messages from Telegram turned into text?
No. Speech recognition is not supported for Telegram audio messages.
How can I confirm the connection is really live?
Check the webhook status using the Telegram API's getWebhookInfo method with your bot token. Bear in mind that the connection also requires your site to use HTTPS.

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