Channel Help Guide
Channel Help
The full guide has been moved here:
ππ» https://botguide.me/s/ch-en
Index
β’ How Telegram channels work
β’ Add Channel Help to a channel
β’ Create posts
β’ Formatting options
β’ Buttons
β’ Uses of post
β’ Reactions
β’ My posts
β’ Post management
β’ Post deletion
β’ Welcome
β’ Settings
β’ Default reactions
β’ Favorite buttons set
β’ Favorite channels set
β’ Signature
β’ Additional functions
Create a Telegram Channel
To use Channel Help, you must first create a channel in which to add the bot.
If you are using Telegram for PC then the procedure is very simple: click on the icon on the top left and then on "New channel".
If, on the other hand, you are using Telegram for Android, click on the pencil at the bottom right and then again on "New channel".
Finally, if you use Telegram for iPhone you need to press the pencil icon at the top right and then again on "New channel".
Add Channel Help to a channel
To add the bot to a channel that has already been created, go to the Channel Help chat, click on the bot name and then on the "Add to group or channel" button.
Subsequently, you will have to select the channel in which to add it, choose the permissions of the bot and press the "Add bot as admin" button.
For Channel Help to work properly it must have the following permissions:
β’ Post messages
β’ Edit messages of others
β’ Delete messages of others
β’ Add members
If after adding the bot to the channel you don't receive a confirmation message from the bot, you need to remove it and add it back to the channel with the same procedure.
Administrators and permissions
Depending on the situation, it may be convenient to get help from someone to manage your channel, or to add a user as an administrator. To do this, go to the channel chat, click on the name, then on the "Administrators" button and finally search for the user to be promoted by his name or username. Finally, you need to decide your permissions and click on the checkbox at the top right.
From this moment on, that user will also be able to use Channel Help to manage the channel, depending however on the permissions assigned to him. In fact, for each admin it is possible to assign 5 permissions that will allow him to manage certain options depending on which ones have been chosen.
β’ Post messages: with this permission enabled the admin will be able to create posts in the channel. This is the main permission to assign to an admin; without it he will not be able to use any feature of the bot.
β’ Edit messages of others: with this permission enabled, the admin can modify any post in the channel from the "My posts" menu. Otherwise, he will only be able to edit the posts he has created.
β’ Delete messages of others: with this permission enabled the admin will be able to delete any post in the channel from the "My Posts" menu. Otherwise, he can only delete the posts he created.
β’ Add members: with this permission enabled the admin will be able to manage the welcome in the channel.
β’ Add new admins: with this active permission the admin can promote other users to actual admins or virtual admins.
Create links with approval
Links with approval allow you to invite users to a private channel, without them being able to enter and/or view the content of the channel until they are approved by an administrator or a bot. With Channel Help, you can automatically approve all users who use a link with approval.
To create a link with approval you need to:
- go to the channel settings menu
- access the "Invite links" section
- press "Create a New Link"
- activate the option "Request admin approval"
- press "Create"
- copy the link that appears and send it to users!
Create posts - Make your channel professional
Create Post is the main feature of Channel Help. It allows you to create more elaborate messages, called posts, which cannot in any way be created manually. Creating and sending a post instead of sending a normal message makes your channel more professional, as it gives you more creation and organization options; It is possible, for example, to replace links inserted at the end of the text with actual buttons containing these links, or to attach the logo of your brand at the end of the message.
You can then switch between a normal manually created message:
To a post created with Channel Help:
But the Create post feature is not limited only to this, it also allows you to manage what happens after the creation of a post. In fact, it is possible to decide to schedule the sending and/or deletion of a post in a channel, pin the post at the top or possibly save it to send it at a later time.
Finally, for users administering more than one channel with Channel Help, it is possible to send a post simultaneously in multiple channels.
Creating a post
Let's see now how to create a post:
This menu contains the initial settings of the post:
β’ Notifications: the post will send a notification to the users of the channel.
β’ Link preview: the preview of the first link of the post will be shown (if present).
β’ Protected: the post cannot be copied or forwarded by channel users.
β’ Formatting: the formatting used for the textual part of the post.
Formatting options
With Channel Help you can use the following formatting options for post text:
Telegram
Using this formatting option it's possible to send to the bot a message already formatted with the Telegram features.
HTML
Using this formatting option it's possible to use the Telegram markup functions with the addition of the following HTML tags:
<b>Bold</> <i>Italic</>Β <u>Underlined</> <s>Strikethrough</> <a href='www.link.com'>Hyperlink text</> <code>Monospaced</> <sp>Spoiler</> <m>Typewriter</> -> ππ’πππ πππππ <f>Encoded</> -> οΌ₯ο½ο½ο½ο½ο½ ο½ <br> -> New line <dot> -> β’ <inv> -> Invisible character
π‘ Note: it's possible to combine multiple tags.
Markdown OLD
Using this formatting option it's possible to use some of the Telegram markup functions (bold, italic, hyperlink, monospaced) with the addition of the following Markdown tags:
*Bold* _Italic_ [Hyperlink text](www.link.com) `Monospaced`
π‘ Note: it's possible to combine multiple tags.
Markdown NEW
Using this formatting option it's possible to use the Telegram markup functions with the addition of the following Markdown tags:
*Bold* _Italic_ __Underlined__ ~Strikethrough~ ||Spoiler|| [Hyperlink text](www.link.com) `Monospaced`
π‘ Note: it's possible to combine multiple tags.
Text message or post media
From this point on, the bot will ask for the elements that will composeΒ the post to be created and in each step it will send the preview of the post.
In the first step the bot asks to send a text message or a media:
In the case of a text message, it is necessary to pay attention to what we write based on the chosen formatting.
If we choose HTML, for example, by sending the message "<a href" we will be stopped by the bot with an error message:
At this point, just send a correctly formatted message and we will proceed to the next step.
In the case of a media, however, it is necessary to be careful to send one of those allowed, as we can read from the message sent by the bot. In case we send unsupported media, we will be stopped by the bot with an error message.
Once the media has been sent, we proceed to the next step, for which, if supported, the caption must be decided:
We can then send the caption we want for the media, or press "No caption" to not insert it.
Also, you can press the "Attach Media" button, which will allow you to attach the media at the bottom of the post. In that case, however, it is mandatory to send a caption.
The two cases are shown below:
Finally, it is possible to forward a media from another chat, deciding whether to keep the caption it had or send a replacement.
Buttons
As already mentioned, with Channel Help it is possible to add buttons under the message. Warning: albums, ie a collection of media, do not support buttons.
There are four types of buttons:
β’ Button with link
β’ Popup button
β’ Comments button
β’ Share button
Button with link
A button that when pressed redirects you to the inserted link.
To create it, you need to send the bot a phrase structured like this:
button text - button link
Replace "button text" with the text you want the button to have and "button link" with the actual link.
Example:
Popup button
A button that when pressed shows a specific message via a pop-up.
To create it, you need to send the bot a phrase structured like this:
button text - popup:Pop-up text
Replace "button text" with the text you want the button to have and "Pop-up text" with the pop-up message.
Example:
Comments button
Button that if pressed will refer to the comments section related to that post.
The comments button is used to make channel subscribers able to comment on a post that includes buttons.
Let's see how to proceed to enable this button:
First of all a "discussion" group must be created and added from the channel settings.
β οΈ The Channel Help bot must also be added to the discussion group.
Click here to add it.
Now that the button has been enabled, to create it you need to send the bot a sentence structured like this:
button text - comments
Replace "button text" with the text you want the button to have. Instead, you don't have to replace the comment keyword.
Example:
Creating more buttons
You can create multiple buttons, of any type, to be added all together at the end of a post.
To create several buttons on the same line (for example buttons with links), the && character must be sent as separator:
text1 - link1 && text2 - link2 && text3 - link3
Example:
To create several buttons on several rows, you need to start a new line to separate one row from another.
text1 - link1 && text2 - link2
text3 - link3 && text4 - link4
Example:
Share button
A button that allows you to share a text with someone once pressed.
Each user who presses the button will be able to choose a chat and the text to be shared will be automatically inserted in the message box of that chat.
To create it, you need to send the bot a phrase structured like this:
button text - share:Text to share
Replace "button text" with the text you want the button to have and "Text to share" with the text you want users to share.
Example:
Final menu of Create post
Once the post has been created, we come to the final menu of the Create Post feature:
In this menu there are several options that you can select for the newly created post:
β’ Save post
β’ Recurring post
β’ Schedule sending
β’ Send post/send post to more channels
Save post
By clicking on this button, the post you just created is saved to be sent at a later time. You will find your saved posts in the My Posts menu.
Schedule sending
By clicking on this button you can send the date on which the post will be sent in the channel. The date must be sent in one of the formats in the example:
It is not possible to send a date prior to the present and it is not possible to send a date after the one relating to the deletion schedule (if present).
Schedule deletion
By clicking on this button you can send the date on which the post will be deleted from the channel. The date must be sent in one of the formats in the example:
It is not possible to send a date prior to the present one and it is not possible to send a date prior to that relating to the sending schedule (if present).
Also, if a date is sent that exceeds 48 hours after the post was sent to the channel, it cannot be deleted, but Channel Help will send you a reminder to remind you to do it manually.
Send posts/send posts to more channels
With Channel Help it is possible, after creating a post, to decide whether to send it in one or more channels simultaneously.
In the first case it will be sufficient to select a channel to proceed to the next menu.
In the second case it will be necessary to select the channels in which to send the post and then click on "Next" confirming the choice.
In both cases you get to the next menu, where the bot shows the summary of the channel or channels in which the post will be sent and allows you to add Signature and Reactions.
Finally, by pressing on "Confirm sending" the bot will send the message in the chosen channel or channels.
Reactions
Reactions are special buttons that allow subscribers of your channel to leave feedback for the post they were added to.
To add them to the post, you need to send a text or an emoji for each reaction, separating them with a space. A maximum of 6 can be entered.
Alternatively, you can click on one of the suggestions that the bot offers based on reactions previously added in the channel.
After sending or selecting the post reactions, it will be possible to verify the correct addition.
Signature
You can add your signature to the post by clicking on the "Add signature" button. However, this button will only appear if it has been set in the settings menu.
Conclusions - Alternatives to Create Post
The Create Post function is the main function of Channel Help that allows you to create posts to be sent in one or more channels. But in some situations it can make the creation and scheduling of posts particularly long or even unsustainable.
For channels where it is necessary to create many posts together and perhaps organize them according to a publication calendar, the Multipost feature is available!
For those channels where text messages are constantly published in which the additions of the message are always the same, such as the logo or signature, the Auto-complete feature is ideal for automating the channel!
Finally, in those cases where it is necessary to repeatedly send a certain post in the channel, but repeating the creation procedure each time with Create post becomes unsustainable, the Recurring Posts feature solves all your problems!
My posts
With the My Posts feature you can review, edit and delete posts created with Channel Help.
In the first menu you can choose whether to manage the posts in a channel or alternatively whether to manage the saved ones.
In case of saved posts we will find the list of all the posts saved so far, regardless of the channel.
If we select a channel, the bot will show the list of posts sent or scheduled.
The first post is scheduled, as can be seen from the clock image and the schedule date in the bot message. While the second is a normal post sent.
In addition to the posts created, you can select:
β’ Recurring posts
β’ Scheduled posts
By clicking on "Scheduled posts" you can check the date of all scheduled posts on the channel.
By pressing on one of the numbers in the list, you can manage the corresponding post.
Post management
For example, we press on the second post:
The post in question is a Gif: pressing the "See" buttons we can check its elements. By pressing on the left buttons we can modify its content.
For example, press the GIF button:
The bot first shows us the Gif of the post and then asks us to send the new media that will replace it. Be careful to send one of the supported media, otherwise the bot will reply with an error.
Let's try to send a supported media, for example a photo:
Once the changes are confirmed, the post will be edited by changing from Gif to photo.
The "Resend Post" button allows you to resend this post in one or more channels, taking you to the final Create Post menu.
The "Share" button instead gives you the possibility to share the post created in one of your Telegram chats.
Now let's go back to the previous menu and select the first post, that is the one programmed:
We can see that in this case the post is a text message that contains the reactions, which can be managed by pressing the corresponding button:
The numbers next to each reaction indicate the total vote of all users who pressed that reaction.
It is not possible to edit them, only to remove them from the post.
It is also possible to terminate the possibility of voting by pressing the "Open" button which will then become "Closed."
Another option available for this post is "Add Attachment". Being a text post, it is possible to attach a media to it as for the Create post function.
After pressing on "Add attachment", sending a supported media (in this case a Gif) and pressing "YES", the post will be identified as "Gif" and no longer as text.
However, it will be possible to return to the text post by clicking on "GIF":
At this point the bot sends us the attached Gif, asking to send the new media or to delete the current one. Then click on "Remove attached media".
As you can see, the post has returned to being of the textual type as it was in the beginning.
Finally, the last two options we can find since the post is scheduled are "Send in channel now" and "Schedule sending".
The first allows you to send the post immediately in the channel instead of on the scheduled date. The second instead allows you to change the sending schedule date, as explained in the paragraph of the Create post function.
Post deletion
Going back to the summary of the posts of the selected channel, you can press on the trash to delete one:
If the "Only from the bot" option is selected, the post will remain in the channel it was sent to, but will no longer be managed by Channel Help. In the other case, however, the post will also be deleted from the channel, as long as it was sent no more than 48 hours before.
Welcome - The right welcome for new members
Do you want to welcome the new user with a welcome post sent automatically by Channel Help or even by your personalized bot?
Do you need to make your channel really private but Telegram does not allow it?
You are in the right place.
With the Welcome feature you can create a post consisting of text, media and buttons that will be sent automatically whenever a new user joins your channel.
This could be useful for various reasons, one of many could be wanting to inform the user of certain things before he starts viewing the channel. However, your channel must be private with approval link.
You can also create your own bot with a personalized name, username and image, which will send the welcome post instead of Channel Help!
The custom bot is one of the extra paid options available starting with the Plus plan, to find out how to set it up click here.
And there's more: using the Welcome feature you can make your channel really private, that is, a user will not be able to see its contents until he has signed up. Telegram inevitably does not offer this possibility since it allows two options:
β’ Make the channel private with the approval link: your channel is effectively private, but you will have to manually approve every single subscriber each time and with potentially large users it could be unsustainable.
β’ Make the channel private without approval links: if your channel has more than 200 subscribers it is not really private, as it will be possible for all users to see the contents of the channel for 5 minutes without having to subscribe.
The definitive solution can be obtained with Channel Help, by choosing the first option and having the bot automatically approve the users who want to subscribe. By doing this, a user will not be able to see the contents of the channel until he has signed up and you will not have to manually approve each individual user!
So let's see how to proceed:
First of all, as we can read in the bot message, it is necessary to make the channel private with approval link.
Then you can decide whether or not to set the Self-approval and whether or not to set the welcome post.
In the case of the welcome post, in addition to activating it, it will be necessary to create it.
We then press on "Welcome post":
For the welcome post you can set:
β’ Media: photos, videos, GIFs that we can use as the basis of the post or to attach at the end of the text.
β’ Text: the text of the message; if we decide to also set the media, the text would become the caption.
β’ Buttons: buttons to add at the end of the post.
For each option there is a "See" button that allows you to see what has been set in each of the cases.
The Link preview button is used to activate the preview of the first link that we insert in the text and it is necessary to activate it in case we want to attach a media.
Let's see for example how to set up a media:
Once pressed on media you need to send a photo, a video or a Gif (up to 5MB).
Once the media has been sent, you can attach it, making it position at the end of the text instead of at the beginning. If the operation is successful, a green check will appear and the word "Media" will become "Photo" or "Video" or "GIF" depending on what has been sent to the bot.
Channel Help settings
To make the most of the bot's features, it may be useful, depending on the case, to activate some of the settings available with Channel Help:
β’ Signature
Default reactions
This setting allows you to choose reactions that will be automatically added to each post you create in Create post depending on the selected channel.
In fact, in the first step the bot asks for which channel we want to set the default reactions.
After selecting the channel we come to the main menu of default reactions.
We can then press "NO" (which will then become "YES") to activate them and ensure that they are automatically added in the future:
Furthermore, by pressing on the left button it is possible to customize the reactions by sending a text or an emoji for each, separating them with a space (maximum six reactions).
Favorite buttons set
A favorite button set is a set of buttons that can be created and saved in this Channel Help setting.
In this way you will be able to create buttons that you usually use for your posts and add them when needed without having to recreate them.
Each set can be added to any post created with the Create Post feature or with the Multipost feature.
As soon as we get to the menu we can create a set by sending buttons as explained here:
After proceeding, the bot asks you to give the newly created set of buttons a name, so that it can be recognized in the future:
You will then be able to edit or delete the created sets from the main setup menu.
Favorite channels set
If you need to send the same post in multiple channels and want to speed up the selection process of the latter, this setting is what you are looking for.
Favorite channels set allows you to create a set of channels which will then be used to send each post created with the Create post feature.
Instead of manually selecting each channel where the post is to be sent each time, you can create a channel set in the settings and select it when you submit.Β
We then click on "Create Set" to create one:
Now let's select the channels we want to be part of the set:
Then click on "Next" and choose a name for the set:
After creating a set it will be possible to modify it at any time or delete it from the main setting menu.
Signature setting
With this setting it is possible to create a signature for the selected channel, that is a text of up to 250 characters that can be added to the end of each post created with the Create post feature or with the Multipost feature.
We then create the signature for the selected channel:
Once the signature has been sent, it will be possible to modify it or decide whether to keep it active by default, or if it must already be active when we arrive in the final step of creating a post.