# Telegram integration

> Get every form submission as a Telegram message in a private chat or a group. How to link a chat and what each message contains.

The Telegram integration sends each new submission as a message from the Ikiform bot. There's nothing to approve in Telegram and no permissions to grant: you link a chat by pressing **Start** on the bot.

## Link a chat

1. Add Telegram to a form, or open Telegram under **Integrations**.
2. Choose **Message me directly** to get submissions in your private chat with the bot, or **Add to a group** to pick a group where everyone sees them.
3. Telegram opens. Press **Start**, or pick the group. The bot confirms in the chat, and the dashboard updates on its own.

The link is valid for 10 minutes and works once. If it expires, start again from Ikiform. Only admins and owners of the Ikiform workspace can link a chat. Each linked chat or group is its own connection, so a form can send to several chats.

## The message

- The first line reads **New submission:** and the form name, in bold.
- Each field follows with its label in bold and the value underneath. Labels come from the field names, so `first_name` becomes **First name**.
- An **Open in Ikiform** button under the message opens the submission.
- A message holds up to 4,096 characters. A longer submission is cut short with a note to open it in Ikiform.
- Mentions in submitted text never notify anyone, and link previews are turned off.
- If a group is upgraded to a supergroup, Ikiform follows it to the new chat.

## When it stops sending

If the bot was blocked in a private chat or removed from a group, the card says **Needs reconnecting**. Choose **Reconnect** and link the chat again.

## Disconnect

Open Telegram under **Integrations** and choose **Disconnect** on the chat. The Ikiform bot leaves the group. For a private chat, the bot stops sending; you can also block it in Telegram.

## Activity, retries and roles

Runs, retries, **Replay failed**, pausing and who can manage integrations work the same for every app. See [Activity and retries](https://ikiform.com/docs/integrations.md#activity), [Pause and resume](https://ikiform.com/docs/integrations.md#pause) and [Who can manage integrations](https://ikiform.com/docs/integrations.md#roles).

## Step-by-step guide

- [Send form submissions to Telegram](https://ikiform.com/blog/form-submissions-to-telegram.md): Link a chat or a group to the Ikiform bot and get every submission as a message.