Telegram Integration Guide

How Telegram integration works

Telegram uses bots to send messages into chats, groups, and channels. When you provide DropForm with a bot token and a chat ID, DropForm uses the Telegram Bot API to send a message for every new submission.

What you need before you start

• A Telegram account
• A Telegram bot token (created via @BotFather)
• A target chat/group/channel and its chat ID
• The bot must be able to post to that destination

Step-by-step setup

1) Create a bot with @BotFather

1. Open Telegram and chat with @BotFather
2. Run /newbot and follow the instructions
3. Copy the bot token

2) Add the bot to your group/channel

To send messages into a group, add the bot to the group. To send messages into a channel, add the bot as an administrator (or at least grant permission to post).

3) Get the chat ID

The fastest method is to message your bot once and read updates. You can use Telegram’s getUpdates:

Look for chat → id in the response:

4) Paste bot token + chat ID into DropForm

1. Open your form in DropForm
2. Go to Integrations → Telegram
3. Paste Bot Token and Chat ID
4. Click Save

5) Send a test submission

Submit your form and confirm the message appears in Telegram.

Message format

DropForm sends a clean, readable summary with the most important fields first, followed by the rest of the submission and a link back to DropForm.

Troubleshooting

“Bad Request: chat not found”

• The bot is not in the group/channel
• The bot doesn’t have permission to post
• You used the wrong chat ID (group/channel IDs can be negative)
• You didn’t trigger any updates yet (send a message in the target chat first)

No updates returned from getUpdates

• Send a message to the bot directly, or mention it in the group, then retry
• If you use webhooks elsewhere for the same bot, updates may not appear via polling

Security notes

• Bot tokens are secrets. Treat them like passwords.
• Rotate your token immediately if it leaks.
• Use a dedicated bot for production notifications.

FAQ

Can I send to multiple chats?

Use multiple integration configurations (or multiple forms) if you want different destinations.

Can messages include rich formatting?

Telegram supports Markdown/HTML formatting in messages. If your integration supports it, you can enable it. Otherwise, DropForm sends a clean plain-text message by default.