Connecting Telegram

Create a bot

1. 1

   Open BotFather

   In Telegram, search for @BotFather and start a chat.

2. 2

   Create the bot

   Send /newbot and follow the prompts. Choose a display name and a username ending in bot.

3. 3

   Copy the token

   BotFather returns an HTTP API token. Paste the full token into LeadToSheet.

Find the chat ID

Telegram bots cannot initiate conversations. The user or group must message the bot first, then LeadToSheet can send alerts to that chat ID.

1. 1

   Message the bot

   Send any message to the bot, or add it to a group and send a message there.

2. 2

   Fetch updates

   Open https://api.telegram.org/bot<your-token>/getUpdates and find chat.id in the JSON response.

3. 3

   Paste the chat ID

   Use that chat ID in the Telegram destination. Group chat IDs are usually negative numbers; user chat IDs are positive.