The editor

The formatting bar, HTML mode, emoji and premium emoji, buttons under the message — one editor for a post and for a template.

HomeChatPost publishing
HomeChatMessage template

The same editor works in two places: when you write your own post and when you edit the message template. Everything below applies to both.

The formatting bar above the text field
The formatting bar above the text field
The emoji window: sets, plain ones and by id
The emoji window: sets, plain ones and by id

The first row

Always in sight — what almost every post needs:

Button What it does Telegram tag
B bold <b>
I italic <i>
U underline <u>
S strikethrough <s>
✖ format strip all formatting from the selection
👁 hidden text: the reader taps to reveal it <tg-spoiler>
emoji, custom ones included <tg-emoji>
a button under the message: a label and a link
🔗 a link on the selected text <a href>

Formatting combines: select a phrase and press several buttons in a row to get, say, bold italic. The clear button strips everything at once rather than one tag at a time.

The second row: the "···" icon

The rarer tools are folded away so the bar does not grow to two lines:

  • H — headings, six levels (plus "Normal" to turn a line back into a paragraph);
  • and 1. — bulleted and numbered lists;
  • — a table;
  • </> — inline monospace, { } — a code block;
  • — a quote, ⌄❝ — an expandable quote (a long one folds under "more");
  • HTML — a switch: the field shows the raw markup, you edit it by hand and switch back.

Telegram accepts headings, lists and tables in a text message only. They cannot travel with a photo or a video — the editor says so when you publish.

Emoji and premium emoji

The ☺ button opens one window for every case:

  • Recent — what you inserted last time;
  • Your sets — premium emoji sets added by name or by a t.me/addemoji/… link;
  • Plain emoji — the standard grid;
  • Premium emoji by id — paste an id directly if you know it; the field next to it holds the plain emoji shown to people without Telegram Premium.

Premium emoji in posts are carried by the bot itself — no Telegram Premium subscription is needed for that. Details and limits are on the Custom emoji page.

Length

The counter on the right goes up to 4096 characters — that is what Telegram accepts in a text message. A post with media has a different limit, 1024 characters of caption, and anything beyond it is trimmed on sending.

What sits next to it

The editor owns the look of the TEXT. The rest lives nearby:

  • which media reach the chat at all and how they are presented — Message content;
  • the basic post-shape toggles (drop the title, the link, the text, or swap them) — Message template;
  • per-publication options (spoiler, protection, auto-delete) — Create your own post.